Horizons: Origin
by Lividio Nova
Summary: A complete rewrite... what Suite Horizons should have been. Begin anew with Zack and Cody aboard the Ishimura, but tread lightly, for dark happenings are in the works. I appreciate reviews from everyone! COMPLETED: 1/13/12
1. Prologue

Horizons: Origin

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><p>Authors Notes: Well it took a little inspiration… and a lengthy sabbatical, but I'm back! With a completely reworked, rewritten and improved story! This is a total do-over of the entire Suite Horizons series, story by story. I essentially came to the conclusion at the beginning of March, 2011 that the story was out of control, and that I was myself losing interest. Thus, I suspended all writing projects: Normandy (fabulous idea that I simply could not figure out how to finish), Soft Rains (attempted and partially successful return to writing sanity) and Extraction (the 4th... and wandering bastard child... of my original story series that makes me wish I just ended it at the third installment). Then, as I was gearing up for a rewrite, the series sputtered in its real-life finale on TV, which killed the writing mood even more. The story languished on my hard drive with six fully rewritten chapters and several imcompleterough ones for months until... funny enough, a certain story, _NotSoSuiteLife_ was updated after a long silence, and so credit goes to ZStorm93 for getting me to finally begin anew. Now, the plotline is being cleared up, the original characters reworked; settings clarified and enhanced, and oh yes: more mayhem, relationship drama and trials by fire on account of our favorite twins. Several chapters are now heavily rooted in music, so you will see what pieces or songs influenced a particular chapter (I guess you could say the story has a soundtrack). I do not own Disney or the Suite Life, nor do I own the intellectual property of Dead Space (though I have both games and love them to death). Now that the required legal disclaimer is out of the way…

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><p>Prologue: <em>Dire Need<em>

The following is an excerpt taken from a CNN Special Report aired July 10th, 2010 on the growing need for resources and the mission behind the Ishimura...

Good evening everyone, I'm Soledad O'Brien. Tonight, we shall take you on a journey around the globe and into the final frontier to discover what led to the construction of the deep space mining vessel, the Planet-Cracker Starship Ishimura. With the vessel's launch less than a month away, we'd like to focus our attention on the somewhat tragic circumstances that led to this course of action, and a new age for humanity. Earth. The green planet, our home. For thousands of years, humanity has been cradled and nurtured on this little piece of paradise in a hostile universe. Sadly, we have not returned the favor very well. Over those same years, we have slowly drained her resources to the point now that war seems to be the only viable action to cure a nation's demands for raw materials. The now infamous attempted Russian takeover of Georgia earlier this year, only a little less than a decade after a previous international incident, is a prime example. Georgia has oil, the most valued commodity in this day and age. We have become dependent on it as our primary source of fuel from power plants to engines, to even being a key ingredient in many skin care products…

…this brings us to the Ishimura. Named after and the brainchild of Hideiki Ishimura, the famed Japanese astrophysicist whose breakthroughs have given us the faster-than-light shock point propulsion system, the Ishimura is the first of the "Planet-Crackers". Almost a mile long and boasting a crew of around 1,300 plus up to 200 guests, dignitaries or specialized personnel, she is the largest man-made space faring object ever, and considering the belated retirement of the ancient US Space Shuttle coming up, this is a huge jump. Equipped with eight massive lifting tethers, the Ishimura can latch onto and haul almost anything process-able in space into its massive mining facility, to be smelted and turned into usable raw materials. Run by the newly formed Concordance Extraction Corporation, a conglomerate of terrestrial mining companies from the US, China, Japan, Brazil, the European Union, Mexico and Canada, the Ishimura sets off on August 8th…

…so what does this all spell for humanity? With the advent of the Ishimura and her planned sister ships, the final frontier may finally be within our grasp. Only time will tell. Sooner or later, time will tell. Thank you, and goodnight.


	2. Bad Driving

Chapter One: _Bad Driving_

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><p>The harsh high-noon desert sun is bearing down upon the tarmac of Runway 34R at Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America, located square in the middle of the New Mexico desert. A fact not lost on Alexander Bergeron, who is sweating and squinting despite his aviator sunglasses and light clothing. The man is borderline lanky, with an impressive height of almost six and a half feet. His dark brown hair isn't organized into any particular style, and his skin fairly well-toned from being in the sun. He is sitting in the back of an open-air security vehicle, parked next to the futuristic terminal. In the passenger seat is a thin older gentleman, his hair grayish-white and features long and tired. Despite his aged appearance, the gentleman's blindingly white British naval uniform gives off an aura of energy.<p>

"Mr. White, can you remind me why we built a spaceport in one of the hottest places on Earth?"

"I'm sure Sir Richard Branson is around here somewhere Captain, why don't you go ask him yourself?"

A tall teenaged kid also wearing sunglasses comes fast-walking out of the terminal, a large folder of papers in hand. He is shorter than Alex at around six feet, and with a much stockier build. His light brown hair is organized into a loose Donald Trump-style comb-over. He gets into the driver's seat and starts up the vehicle.

"About bloody time Colin, we were starting to think you got lost."

"Sorry Mr. White, you know how Dr. Ishimura is. He always loses things. Being his intern is a trial of patience sometimes. But I have the blueprints now, and we're off."

"Great. A moment longer and I would have lost another ten percent of my body weight to sweat."

The kid turns around and shoots Alex a look before pulling away from the terminal.

"You can't really complain when you're the captain of THAT."

Colin points out beyond the far side of the runway. Sitting in a massive dock is an equally large space vessel that at first glance could appear to be more than a mile long. It is moored so that the bow is facing away from the terminal and down the parallel runway. It extends like a giant neck poking out from the dock's crazed patterns of scaffolding and cranes. Inverted skyscrapers dangle from the neck like icicles, growing in length until they disappear into the body of the ship inside the dock. Emblazoned in bright white letters on a brownish-gray hull is the word "Ishimura" along the topside of the bow neck. Poking out from the dock's chaotic workings are eighteen large outward-curving vertical "ribs", nine on each side of the ship, which protect the vulnerable and delicate parts within from any errant objects in space. Also sticking out of the bottom of the ship are eight arms, two large and two small per side. Each is heavily anchored to the core of the ship and capped by large hemispherical objects on the ends, pointing downwards at the ground. Behind these mid-mounted arms begin two great massive towers that stand side-by-side about two-thirds of the way down the length of the ship. They are vertically divided into three distinct sections, and on the outer side of each tower is "Ishimura" again, but small in comparison to a logo above the words. The logo is yellowish-orange and consists of a large capital "C" clamping down upon a red circle. Moving to the end of the ship are two additional smaller towers that mark the ship's end. Both have a gaping circular opening that is spewing light steam, and a two more openings are sandwiched on top of each other at the center between the first two. The entire vessel makes for an imposing sight, and it casts a long, complex shadow across the entire complex of buildings, runways and hangars.

"Ok fine. I'll just go lock myself in Refrigeration for a few hours. That should do the trick."

"As assistant designer of the Ishimura, I don't recommend that, but it's your ship to use to kill yourself as you see fit."

"Damn right it's my ship."

The wind picks up as the vehicle begins going down the runway towards a side taxiway that leads to the Ishimura's dock. A paper inside Colin's folder is picked up and blown in Alex's face.

"What's this?"

Alex reads the paper. After a moment, he hands it to White.

"Is this the final version of that memo we saw already?"

"Yep. The very one. Civilians along for the ride to make CEC look better."

"And when are they supposed to get here?"

Colin's phone rings. He fumbles the iPhone out of his pocket while driving with one hand and answers it.

"Yeah, what?"

Colin listens hard, trying to hear over the wind and road noise.

"I can't hear you over the- What do you mean 'look out behind you'?"

Colin, White and Alex all turn around to see a Boeing 737 bearing down on them on final approach on the runway.

"OH SHI-"

Colin veers the car hard right before Alex can finish the explicative. The vehicle speeds off the side of the runway and bounces off the pavement, heading straight into the dirt. Alex and White hold on for dear life as the ill-equipped vehicle goes off the road and through the sand. It sails right through the fence cordoning off the Ishimura's dock, and promptly plows through the obstacle-filled area. It crashes through a crowd of surprised and lucky workers who all manage dive out of the way, and then hits a concrete support column for the scaffolding. The column crumbles into pieces and the car stops, but Alex keeps going and he goes flying into a mound of sand while White and Colin's faces are sent careening into the airbags.

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><p><em>"The Knight Bus"<em> - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Soundtrack


	3. On Approach

Chapter 2: _On Approach_

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><p>Aboard London's private jet, Zack, Cody, Carey, Moseby, London herself and some assorted CEC officials are all sitting around, clearly bored, as the plane approaches Edwards. Carey and Moseby are playing a game of cards, Cody is buried in a book and Zack, after multiple failed attempts at flirting with the flight attendants, is snoozing in his seat. A large slap mark is visible on his right cheek. The pilot buzzes the intercom.<p>

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking; we are approaching our destination and beginning our descent now. Please fasten your seatbelts. Also, you may want to take a look out the right side windows for quite the view."

Eager for something else to do, the passengers scramble over to the right side and are greeted with a view of the Ishimura as the plane comes out of the clouds. Zack is surprisingly the first to form a cohesive sentence out of the group's awe.

"Geez that's a big sucker. We're going up in that?"

His comment seems to shock the group back to reality as everyone except Cody begins chatting excitedly. Cody is off by himself, staring out the window towards the ship, deep in thought. Moseby notices and walks over.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Cody turns from the window and brushes off his thoughts.

"Oh, nothing, just a strange feeling, that's all."

"Well why don't you go perhaps observe the pilots land or something? If you quietly watch, they wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, ok."

Cody gets up and knocks on the cockpit door.

"Come in."

Cody enters and shuts it. The pilot is deep in concentration, but the co-pilot greets Cody.

"Ah, Cody. The only twin I would actually let through the door. You gonna watch us land?"

"Yep. I'll just be back here."

"Here, put this headset on. You can hear us go through the steps."

Cody obliges and puts on the headset.

_"Spaceport Tower, this is Tipton-One, on three mile final for the GPS on runway 34 right."_

_"Copy Tipton. You're clear to- uh, hang on."_

_"What's the problem tower?"_

_"Stand by; we may have a problem here. Uh, is that? Yep. It is. We have a vehicle on the runway. Tipton, can you confirm?"_

_"Tipton copies, we see them."_

_"Can you abort and go around?"_

The aircraft's computer blares a loud automated warning in the ears of all three in the cockpit.

_"Minimums! Minimums!"_

The altimeter reads 500 feet and is dropping fast.

_"Negative, we've passed minimums."_

_"Very well, proceed with landing and prepare emergency braking procedures."_

_"Roger."_

The pilot slows the plane down to almost a stall, and it falls the remaining five feet onto the runway, bouncing once and then sending everyone forward as the thrust-reversers engage. The vehicle notices and veers out of the way to the right just seconds before the jet would have run it over.

_"Tower, we are down. Crazy car got out of the way, thank god."_

_"Roger, good job."_

Cody takes off the headset, thanks the pilots and then walks back out into the cabin. As he gathers his belongings, he looks out the windows again at the imposing Ishimura, and gets a sinking feeling. After shuddering for a second, Cody shakes it off and disembarks.


	4. Tumultuous Arrivals

Chapter 3: _Tumultuous Arrivals_

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><p>As the dust clears around the crash site, a dirt-covered Colin and White emerge from the wreckage. Colin stumbles and then falls down. White vainly attempts to dust off his uniform and manages to walk away as if nothing had happened.<p>

"Forget it White… that uniform will never be completely clean again."

"I can try can't I? Where's Alex?"

There is an explosion of sand as Alex kicks his way out of the mound.

"Let's not try that again."

"You think I drive that way all the time? Someone forgot to tell me our civilian guests were running an hour early. I don't make a habit of driving on operational runways."

Colin's iPhone starts to ring. He pulls it out and manages to answer it despite the glass being cracked in at least eight different directions.

"Hello?"

_"Colin, this is ground control. Is everything alright over there? We saw you get chased off the runway."_

"You know, I don't even know where to-"

Colin enters a coughing fit briefly before continuing.

"-begin-"

He resumes coughing again for a moment.

"-oh just get me another damn vehicle."

_"Understood."_

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><p>Zack and Cody exit the cool haven of the jet and emerge out on the oppressively hot tarmac. The terminal is only about 25 yards away, but one can see massive amounts of heat waves rising from the ground. The two look around, squinting at the white building, white sands, and brown backdrop all set against a clear blue sky. Cody turns around to look behind the jet and nearly drops his things as the true scale of the Ishimura becomes apparent. Moseby gets off behind them and seems quite happy about it all.<p>

"Isn't she a beauty? A mile of human ingenuity at its finest. She can go anywhere and everywhere, maybe even solving a few of the world's problems on the way."

Cody ignores the babbling Moseby and squints even harder into the sea of heat waves between them and the dock. Something seems to be moving towards them, throwing up a significant dust cloud. It continues to grow larger, until Cody can finally make out a vehicle speeding its way across the pavement. His intense gaze finally gets Moseby's attention.

"Oh, I wonder who the welcoming party is."

The vehicle swings around the powered-down jet and comes to a stop in front of the Tipton entourage. Alex hops off the back, White climbs out of the passenger seat and Colin remains in the driver's seat, inspecting his heavily-damaged iPhone.

"Colin, your Apple toy will survive, now come over and greet our guests!"

"Well excuse me Alex for being a little unhappy that my early birthday gift is in pieces."

Colin pockets the device and climbs out, joining Alex and White. Alex takes off his aviators and looks at Moseby.

"You must be Marion."

"Indeed I am."

Alex shakes Moseby's hand.

"Captain Alexander Bergeron, good to meet you. This is my first officer, Judsen White, and Colin Shepard, Dr. Ishimura's intern and assistant designer of the ship."

Moseby greets the other two.

"Care to introduce us Marion?"

"Ah, yes. This is Cody Martin on my left here."

"Nice to meet you."

"And this is Zack on my… right? Oh dear…"

Zack has vanished from Moseby's side. Cody looks around and immediately spots him, sunbathing on the wing of the plane.

"ZACK!"

Disturbed from his relaxation, the other twin pops his head up.

"What do you want?"

"Get off of the wing!"

As Moseby and Cody try to force Zack off the wing, the trio of Alex, Colin and White simply stand there and watch awkwardly.

"How old is he again?"

"Apparently your age."

"You're a liar White."

"I don't believe myself either."

"Why are we standing here again?"

"It's polite."

"It's hot."

"If you don't like it, go inside."

"I propose we all go in for Starbucks."

"Are you buying?"

"Sure."

"Let's go."

Seeing that the attempt to get Zack down is proving useless, the trio quietly gets back in the still-running vehicle and they speed off for the terminal.

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><p><em>"Jack Sparrow"<em> - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Soundtrack


	5. Premonitions

Chapter 4: _Premonitions_

It ended up taking almost a half hour to get Zack off the wing. After a proper introduction, the extravagant dinner party, wild rave after-party and a midnight poker tournament, Zack is finally fast asleep in the terminal's small adjacent hotel. Cody is still awake in bed right nearby. Despite the sleep creeping upon his consciousness, thoughts are swirling around in his head. A sudden loud snore from Zack nearby reminds Cody of his need for sleep. As he falls into a deep sleep, the thoughts permeate his dream world…

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><p>The dream world takes shape, dropping Cody in a cavernous room. He is floating at the center, directly above a huge piece of machinery that is the centerpiece of the otherwise empty circular chamber. The machine appears to be a giant centrifuge, with a large motor at the center of the room in a circular housing and a massive arm and counterweight coming out of it. A catwalk curves along the wall to the room's widest point before terminating, and a circular door is at the middle point of the catwalk, leading to places unknown. Walking along in the bluish fluorescent light is Colin, carrying a clipboard and pencil.<p>

"I don't pretend to know why he acted the way he did. The way people have been treating me in this crisis is outrageous."

A female voice responds over a public address system in a slightly computerized light British accent.

_"There's not much you can do except hope for a swift resolution and vindication. I know you didn't cause any of it, and they don't even believe me!"_

"Well, the way the twins are acting is particularly hurtful. I finally found some friends here on this ship, seeing as I can't talk to mine back home, but NOOOOO, someone sabotages the ship and sticks me with the fucking blame!"

Colin violently kicks the wall. The resulting noise echoes in the chamber for a few moments, causing an uneasy silence in the conversation.

_"There isn't much you can do except not let it get to you. It'll all be over soon enough."_

"I hope so. At least you'll still talk to me regardless. You and Duncan."

_"It's easy for some people to forget that I'm not just a particularly powerful computer: I have human emotions, reasoning, understanding and complex thought. I can tell that they are blaming you out of fear, not actual suspicions. So long as I remain capable of such understanding, I will ALWAYS be here for you. You are my creator. I can never turn my back on you!"_

A tear forms in the corner of Colin's left eye.

"That means a lot. Thank you."

Colin is distracted as the circular blast door splits in two, spins 90 degrees and retracts away. Another kid, much shorter than Colin, enters. Colin quickly removes the tear and puts on a straight face.

_ "What's up Duncan?"_

"Came to see how it's going."

"I think she's more qualified to answer than I am. Give us the lowdown sister."

_"Gladly. The repairs have been completed on schedule, and we can restart it tomorrow."_

"We've got a trillion tons of rock hanging off our ass and you don't mind waiting till tomorrow?"

_"Fine, I'll expedite the schedule. Just keep everyone else away from my controls."_

The figures in the room fade away into dust, and a new scene forms. The kid called Duncan is standing at the control station on the far right side of the catwalk. His hands are in the air, moving floating holograms with unintelligible information on them.

"Alright, are you getting a reading?"

_"Yes. My sensors indicate that this contraption is ready to go."_

"Ok good, we'll test it tomorrow. This delay has been annoying, so I'm going to rest a bit. Kill the gravity, would you?"

_"Of course. I'm overdue to go into sleep mode. Buzz me with the controls if you need me."_

Duncan takes a long stretch and yawns before tapping one last thing into the controls.

_"Entering zero-gravity."_

The railings on the catwalk all retract away, and Duncan begins to float. He expertly propels himself off the catwalk and over towards Cody's location at the center of the room. He sets down on top of the centrifuge itself just below Cody and goes into a meditative position. A few moments later, the blast door opens and Zack creeps into the room. Duncan is in deep thought, and does not notice. Cody finds himself drifting over to the catwalk, where he stops right above the control station. Zack approaches it, and the screens wake up.

"You and that computer are the only two people on this ship that don't shun Colin. Let's see what his loyalties really are."

He begins waving his hands around, quickly and expertly manipulating the controls.

_"Warning: activating centrifuge will initiate gravity well."_

Duncan's trance is broken by the announcement. He turns and sees Zack staring right back at him with a twisted smile on his face.

"So… turns out that my suspicions about you were spot on. And here I am, vulnerable. Your hand is now resting above the hologram that can activate this room and kill me in a matter of seconds. But before you do that, I want to know: why?

"A week ago when things first started going wrong, you told me some very wise advice. You told me that there were two sides to this: the side of fear and doubt, and the side of hope and trust."

"So I did. That doesn't answer my question. What are you doing?"

"Choosing a side."

Zack swipes his hand over the controls. A buzzer sounds and the catwalk railings come back up into place. Duncan suddenly falls from his zero-gravity perch to land on top of the centrifuge motor, hitting so hard that there is a snap from his back. He simply lays there as the machinery powers up, unable to move, but still able to see and hear. Duncan has the wind knocked out of him, leaving him gasping for a breath.

_"Centrifuge activated. Reestablishing gravitational balance with planetary cargo. Gravity restored. Entering vacuum."_

The entire floor breaks into two semi-circles and retracts away, creating a massive vortex into a dark black void. Cody is sucked away from the catwalk, spinning out into a black nothing, falling and falling and-

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><p>"CODY!"<p>

"WHAT?"

Cody wakes with a jolt. Zack is standing over him with an annoyed look on his face.

"I've been trying to wake you for ten minutes dude, come on. It's ten o'clock."

Zack walks over to the window and opens the curtains. The unforgiving desert sun blinds Cody temporarily. The view is directly out to the Ishimura, where a flurry of activity can be seen around the scaffolding.

"Today's the grand tour bud. Tomorrow, we launch. Come on, let's go get breakfast and meet up with Moseby."

The two begin to get dressed, though as Cody prepares for the day, he finds his gaze continually drifting out the window towards the ship.

_"Was that a dream, or was it real?"_

He remembers the centrifuge, the female voice, and most distinctly, Zack.

_"I have a very bad feeling about that ship…"_

Cody shakes his head vigorously to clear the thoughts, puts on a fake smile and heads out the door with Zack towards the terminal lobby.

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><p><em>"You Look Good Jack"<em> - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Soundtrack


	6. Concordance Welcomes You

Chapter 5: _Concordance Welcomes You_

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><p>The lobby is swarming with activity as crew members of the Ishimura, spaceport employees, Tipton representatives and government officials are all milling about chatting away. Moseby is standing near Colin at the center of the room.<p>

"Ah, boys! You're up, fantastic. Colin here is going to give us the grand tour."

"Indeed I am. I've got a shuttle waiting out on the tarmac. I hate to rush breakfast though, would you two like something for the road? I think there are some packaged Danishes over at the continental breakfast ta-"

Zack and Cody dash over before Colin can even complete the sentence. They return moments later with two packages apiece.

"-ble? Ok then. Follow me."

Colin leads the other three down the length of the terminal and out onto the sun-blasted pavement. Even at only 10:30am, the heat is stifling. The tarmac is chaotic, with people running everywhere, trying to load the ship and prep it for departure. Sitting on a taxiway a little ways from the exit sits some sort of craft on the ground, spewing steam. As they approach it, the "C" logo and Ishimura crest slowly materialize on the side out of the heat waves surrounding it. The shuttle's door and gangplank automatically open and deploy as the group approaches. They board and Colin sits in the pilot's chair. The female voice from Cody's dream acknowledges them.

"_Finally. I was starting to think you forgot about me out here."_

"I may have a short-term memory, but it's not THAT short. Take us in."

_"Gladly."_

At these words, the shuttle roars to life and begins to hover off the ground. Three engines in the rear propel the shuttle towards the Ishimura herself. Everyone looks out the windows in awe as the shuttle is piloted on a sweeping vista course around the stern, past the two massive towers at the ship's rear. The craft continues, past the four tethers on the starboard side and then past the very tip of the neck.

_"Automatic docking isn't ready yet. Back to you Colin."_

"No problem."

Colin swings the shuttle in almost a complete 180 as it realigns itself on track for landing on the Flight Deck, which is located amidships.

_"Just say when."_

"And… now."

Several beams of energy are projected from various emplacements along the hull, slowing the shuttle down and gently guiding it into the gaping maw of the hangar. As the tiny craft enters the behemoth hangar, the blast doors slowly slide closed behind it. The shuttle comes to a gentle landing and the doors open.

_"You may now disembark from the shuttle."_

Colin hops up and leads the way out. He looks around, stretches out his arms and sighs happily.

"I give you the Planet-Cracker Starship Ishimura."

_"Hey! That's my line!"_

Zack and Cody are startled by the echoing voice, back yet again.

"Oh shut it you! You'll have your moment."

Colin motions for the three to follow.

"Come on, there's much to see in only a little time."

The group moves down the long walkway that extends down the length of the massive hangar, which Cody judges to be almost a football field long and half of one in width. They approach a door in the far wall. Slowly spinning at the very center of the rectangular two-part door is a bluish-gray hologram hovering a few inches from the door itself. The spinning circle simply has the stationary words "Unlocked" hovering over it. Upon Colin's approach, it changes to "Open?" and starts lightly flashing. He reaches out his hand and taps the projection. The hologram dissipates and the door opens.

"A useful bit of tech if I do say so myself. The entire ship is controlled by holograms, though the door locks are the simplest of all."

They pass through a very small waiting area which branches off either straight ahead or to the left. Colin continues straight ahead and opens an identical door. The lights in the room beyond flicker to life, illuminating a large flight lounge. A large hologram on the far wall is displaying arrival and departure times, though all the slots are blank. It changes quickly to play a video for the entourage.

_"Welcome distinguished guests, to the Planet-Cracker Starship Ishimura. The Ishimura is the first Planet-Cracker class vessel, and the first serving, with two sister ships under construction. It holds the record for largest manmade object in space, and most powerful supercomputer in the world. Named for her chief designer, Dr. Hideiki Ishimura, the Ishimura is the first faster-than-light capable vessel, and will be leading the way for a space revolution for humanity. So whether you will be joining us aboard the Ishimura, or strengthening the workforce on the ground, the captain and crew would like to welcome you, and we hope your stay is a pleasant one. Concordance Extraction Corporation: Powering Humanity into the Future!"_

The narration and accompanying slideshow of pictures of the ship ends, and the screen reverts to a timetable again.

_"Did I hear 'most powerful supercomputer in there'? I think I did!"_

A projection of a young woman suddenly materializes in front of Zack and Cody. She is fair-skinned with black hair and clad in a simple all-white outfit with blue lines along the edges of the fabric.

_"I hate to gloat- actually that's a total lie. I love to."_

Zack is speechless, but Cody, who has heard her voice before in his dream, is still able to form cohesive sentences.

"Who the heck are you?"

_"An apt question if there ever was one. I am the Central Ishimura Computerized Intelligence with Linguistics, CICIL for short. I am a fully sentient artificial intelligence that is in charge of keeping the ship maintained in tip-top shape and ensuring that everything is running smoothly."_

"Ok, this has to be a joke. Humans have never come close to creating a sentient AI before. EVER."

"He'd know. He's the smart twin."

_"Ouch. Self-depreciation much?"_

"Just get used to Zack doing stupid things and me trying not to get involved but inevitably getting sucked in anyway."

_"Noted. Anyway, believe what you want to believe. Head on through the door on the left and take the elevator. I've got a tram coming to get you."_

Colin gently pushes a still-confused Zack and Cody towards the door with Moseby's help.

"Don't worry CICIL darling. They'll get over the denial and confusion."

_"Yes, I seem to have that effect on people don't I?"_

The group enters a waiting elevator and Colin sends it down. It arrives after only seconds and opens up to a large platform with lounge chairs, hologram screens and a small automated vending machine-type ship store. The platform opens up into a cavernous and seemingly endless tunnel that is almost three times the height, with a high ceiling about thirty feet up and a traversable floor about thirty feet down. Two parallel rails run along the far wall, with a guide rail running opposite on the side of the platform. There is a screeching and the sound of wheels suddenly, and a single-car tram pulls into the station. The door folds itself up, revealing seating inside the windowless car.

_"Climb aboard."_

"Wow, you really are everywhere, aren't you?"

_"Um, yes. If I wasn't, that'd defeat the purpose of my existence."_

The group boards. Colin looks at the large hologram board along the wall of the car that shows a deck layout of the entire ship. He taps the very tip of the ship's neck, which lights up green. The car lurches as the door folds itself shut, and the tram begins to move.

_"Tram activated. Heading to: the Bridge."_

"Alright, it's about a five minute ride. When we get there, we'll go through security, get you three registered in CICIL's databases and then the tour can begin."

The group sits in silence for the rest of the short journey, and the tram soon arrives at its destination.

_"Now arriving at the Bridge."_

The car comes to a smooth stop and the door opens. Everyone exits out onto a similar station platform to the one on the Flight Deck, minus the store and with better lighting. Cody looks to the left and sees that the tunnel actually ends only a few more feet down the track. He returns his gaze to the station and notices engraved letters on the floor directly in front of the car read "Bridge Deck". A single door off to the left leads away from the platform.

_"Head left please."_

The group passes through the door and then left into a short hallway that has a heavily-tented window on the left side and seats on the right facing it.

_"Security check bypassed. Please continue."_

They pass right by the seats and take another left. The hallway abruptly terminates at a large circular blast door, which Cody recognizes to be similar to the one seen in his dream in the Centrifuge.

_"Stand back please."_

A buzzer sounds briefly and the outer layer of the door separates into two pieces that rotate 90 degrees and retract sideways into the walls. The inner layer retracts downward into the floor all as one piece.

_"Welcome gentlemen, to the Bridge."_

* * *

><p><em>"Main Themes" <em>- Jurassic Park Soundtrack


	7. Preflight Problems

Chapter 6: _Pre-Flight Problems_

* * *

><p>Zack and Cody tentatively step forward through the door and are blinded by the bright light. As their eyes adjust, they come to see that the Bridge is a single room that is almost forty feet in height, with most of that height going to massive floor-to-ceiling windows that provide an unparalleled view in three directions. The desert stretches out in front, reflecting huge amounts of sunlight into the room, while the Spaceport is off to the left. Two large holographic displays sit off to the left and right at the front of the room, mirroring each other in both location and information displayed. Each shows a side-view deck layout and various important bits of information. Along each side of the room are two stations with two chairs apiece that stick out closer to the windows and are either raised slightly or lowered slightly from the main floor. These stations each share a large screen almost identical in size to the ones up front. Several hologram panels are sticking out of the floor in rows, with officers walking among them and manipulating them simply with hand gestures ala Minority Report. In the center of the room is a large support column, where the two elevators to the other Bridge Deck levels are located. One leads down to a location called Ship Systems, while the other leads up to Communications and down to Mining Administration. In front of the column is the helm - a slightly raised platform with a centrally located joystick for steering control. The podium with the joystick is surrounded by a few controls and has a large central chair almost in homage to Star Trek. In front of the helm is a large open space with a massive representation of the ship's logo on the floor and a hologram projector at the center. It is projecting the entire solar system at about eye-level within the confines of the logo on the floor. Earth itself is being projected above the solar system map in greater detail, including a slowly moving moon and a glowing dot where the New Mexico spaceport is. Beyond this open space and just past the two main screens are parallel stairs that lead downwards and then double back and merge together as they head for a lower level. Officers are going about their business throughout the room and Zack and Cody are slowly walking in, taking in all the sights. Colin sails right past them and goes to the map.<p>

"How are we looking CICIL my dear?"

_"See for yourself."_

The map and Earth vanish, replaced by a massive holographic representation of the ship itself.

"Give me the deck by deck lowdown."

The Bridge deck highlights itself.

_"Bridge is in full operation. Save for some last-minute tweaks to the Communications Array by yours truly, everything is done."_

The next deck, taking up the majority of the neck structure, is highlighted.

_"Crew Deck. Final preparations are wrapping up and the last crew members are settling in to their quarters. They'll spend the night aboard so that they are ready to go tomorrow morning. It hasn't been perfect though."_

One of the individual towers hanging from the ship lights up and flashes red.

_"This particular tower in Habitat A has been giving us trouble; we've had constant electrical issues. I have crew and sentinels working on it now, we think it's a bad junction somewhere in the upper levels."_

Zack, who is not paying attention, stumbles into the map, causing it to become fuzzy and distorted.

_"Excuse me: you're ruining my map."_

He turns around and does a double take at the hologram he just walked into before quickly scurrying out. Moseby walks up next to Zack, gives him a look, and then directs his attention to the hologram. Cody walks up next to Colin and silently looks at the whole thing with a curious eye.

_"Now, where was I? Oh yes. Habitat A. We'll have it fixed by morning."_

"Ok good. How's Engineering looking? We were up late in the Centrifuge last night talking about it."

Cody turns quite pale as he remembers his dream.

_"Better. We're going to begin fueling here in about an hour and all systems check out. The last centrifuge components will be installed by the end of the day and I hope to test it overnight. Most of that scaffolding is gone too."_

"Excellent. Where's Duncan at?"

"Right here."

Colin nearly drops his clipboard in surprise. He whirls around to find the diminutive child prodigy standing about a foot away.

"Where the hell did you come from and why do you insist on doing that to me?"

"My suit's being worked on in Security, it decided all of a sudden that I didn't have any access codes. So, I was locked out of my own deck."

"Not exactly a minor issue."

_"I'm working on a patch as we speak."_

"Good."

Duncan notices the twins and Moseby.

"And these must be our guests?"

"Who are you shortstuff?"

CICIL's persona materializes at the edge of the map, and she gives Zack a look that can only be described as burning scorn while Moseby simply looks aghast. Colin also glares at him as Duncan just laughs it off.

"I've been called worse by far more frightening people than you, that's for sure. Name's Duncan: Chief Engineer."

"You're the Chief Engineer? You're like what? Ten?"

_"Try fifteen. And with a perfect SAT score of 2400, he's a lot smarter than you."_

Duncan smiles as Zack is humbled. He then notices that Cody has a grin on his face too.

"You like seeing your brother put down?"

"It's satisfying."

"Hey!"

"Name's Cody."

The two shake hands.

_"Duncan, security informs me your suit is ready."_

"Cool. That was fast. Nice meeting you guys."

Duncan strolls off towards a door to the right of the main entrance.

"He seems nice."

Zack rolls his eyes.

"Ok CICIL, we'll continue the report later, we need to get these two situated. Where's Alex at?"

_"Not aboard. He and White are at the Spaceport for a press conference."_

"Oh yeah, now I remember. Hm, I guess I'll do it then."

_"Habitat E, Residences 2 and 4."_

"Got it. Come on you three. Let's take a walk."

Colin leads the way back towards the exit. As the group passes through, Duncan comes out of Security, fully clad in a skin-tight black suit with silver plating over the torso, neck and legs. His and Zack's eyes meet, and Duncan nods in respect. Zack returns the gesture, and Duncan turns his attention to several red holograms being projected by the suit as the twins leave.

* * *

><p><em>"Tram now arriving at: South Crew Deck Station. Access to Habitats C through E."<em>

The tram car rolls to a stop at the station and the group emerges out onto the platform.

_"Welcome to your new home for the next five weeks. Have a pleasant stay."_

The platform opens directly onto a huge three-level commons concourse that runs almost the entire length of the neck except for the area reserved for the Bridge. This particular station is on the aft end of the concourse, with another station on the other end, closer to the Bridge. The concourse has fountains, plants and public areas for the crew to socialize at, in addition to some stores and scattered restaurants. Five large elevator lobbies are spaced evenly throughout the concourse, each having a different letter from A-E. There is one almost directly in front of the South Tram Station, labeled "E". Colin leads the way to it and the group gets into an elevator. Colin taps the elevator's hologram and sends it on the way. As the car descends, it exits the area of the concourse and begins riding alongside the Habitat E tower. The glass wall of the elevator plus the reinforced glass wall of the elevator shaft provides an unprecedented view to the outside. From their moving vantage point, the twins can make out that they are descending the largest of the five tower complexes and the closest to the main body of the ship. The neck stretches out over them, blocking the sun and casting shadows amongst the spires.

"Pretty view isn't it? Just wait till we're in space. It's beautiful."

"I thought the Ishimura hadn't flown before?"

"Good observation Cody, but incorrect. The ship has flown once before, with only me, Dr. Ishimura and CICIL aboard. We went on engineering trials in low Earth orbit. The ship was mostly an empty hulk back then, only the Reactor, Engineering and Bridge Decks were even remotely completed. The Crew Deck wasn't outfitted or furnished yet, but the towers were structurally complete. Just a bunch of interconnecting metal hallways and rooms with no doors and few lights. But the view was there, and it was great."

The elevator exits the glass portion of its shaft and begins to slow down.

_"Now arriving at Habitat E, Executive Levels."_

"We're going to come out at the very end of the elevator line, the furthest down of the spires that branch off of this particular tower."

The elevator stops and opens up to an empty commons. The room is done up in an art deco tribute to the _S.S. Normandié_, with gold accents, medium-tone wood furniture with vibrant fabrics, cream carpets and stylistic light fixtures. A flat-screen TV and a few hologram projectors are the only breaks in otherwise seamless throwback to the 1920's. Several doors lead off of the room, each with a number on a small gold wall plate next to them. Colin first goes to the one that says "4". He taps the door hologram, which is orange and "Locked", and it magnifies itself. Colin begins manipulating it with lightning speed, reprogramming it.

_"Door control reprogramming successful. Residence Four door lock has been keyed to Zack and Cody."_

"Beautiful. This door will only open to you two, the captain or myself. Mr. Moseby, take a seat and wait a few while I show them their residence. I'll get you to yours shortly. Go ahead you two: give it a try."

Cody tentatively reaches out his hand and taps the now-blue hologram, which changes to say "Open?" at his hand's approach. It dissipates and the door slides open. Before they can enter, two very angular yet sleek small flying robots emerge. They stop and hover at about eye-level with the twins.

"Ah, sentinels! Probably dropping off your luggage."

_"Indeed they were. All your belongings have been relocated from the hotel to here, though they need to be unpacked still."_

"Wow. Those are sweet."

_"Yes, handy little things. They are my secondary eyes and ears, and my helpers. They dart about the ship, fixing and maintaining things or doing tasks too menial or unimportant to devote a regular crew member too. They allow us to keep the ship's crew to a manageable level, seeing as resources in space are limited."_

"How did you get the power supply so small in order to get them to be able fly around like that?"

Colin and Zack look at Cody funny.

"What? Just asking."

Colin shakes his head and motions to the open door. Cody leads the way into the suite with Zack following. Colin snaps his fingers and the lights start to come to life, revealing the most lavish living space the twins had ever seen. Their suite is very modern, with a large foyer leading to an open air, full kitchen and dining room to the left. To the right is a library/study filled floor to ceiling with bookcases and books. A single desk is in the center, with a computer, lamp and writing utensils. Cody nearly faints. Ahead is a wall separating the foyer from the main living space with two open air doorways on either side. An alcove in the wall directly ahead of the door contains a vase with very exotic looking flowers, lit by a lone light above. The rest of the entrance area is lit by accent lighting along the walls and some sconces.

"Oh my god. This is unbelievable."

"Heh, you should see my quarters…"

"What?"

"Moving right along…"

Colin walks through one of the doorways into the main living room. Zack and Cody nearly faint again as they are greeted by a large open area. The floor is recessed downward a few steps, an enormous sofa sits facing the opposing wall, staring right at a simply massive 65" TV. Below it is a glass door cabinet with an Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and a Wii. A set of drawers on the right of the cabinet contains an extensive movie library, while a symmetrical set on the left contains a large variety of games for the various consoles. Symmetrical track lighting sets run the length of the room, with a ceiling fan in the very center. The walls on all sides are entirely glass windows that command an impressive view, occasionally interrupted by a solid wall panel with a picture hanging on it or one of the ship's iconic large portrait-style air vents. The windows appear to have a smart tinting ability that is constantly adjusting to compensate for the sun. The wall with the TV has two doors on either side, both projecting standard door holograms that are locked.

"Where does that lead?"

"The bedroom."

Zack and Cody look at each other for a second, then dash for the doors.

"Me first!"

"No, me!"

"How about ME?"

Colin moves them both out of the way and unlocks the doors, only to nearly be run over by Zack and Cody trying to get in. The bedroom has a glass floor, though there is nothing but darkness beneath it. Two identical beds are on the opposite wall, each with its own night stand and lamp. On the wall with the doors is another TV, flanked by alcoves with a marble statuette of Socrates on one side and one of Aristotle on the other. There are two more doors, one on either side of the room. Colin strolls to the one on the left and opens it, revealing an all marble bathroom, with twin sinks, a large walk in closet, separate water closet, Jacuzzi bathtub and a walk in shower. Colin then walks to the other one, which is an entrance to a large sitting room, with huge observation windows. He then returns to the center of the bedroom, allowing the twins to take it all in.

"So, what do you think?"

"THIS IS AWESOME!"

"What he said."

"Then you'll love this."

Colin lifts the statuette of Socrates and presses a button hiding beneath it. The room shakes, and large shutters retract beneath the glass floor, revealing an unobstructed view of the desert and edge of the gantry works below. Zack and Cody look down in awe as Colin lets them take it all in.

"I personally designed the Executive Residences, and each one is unique, with a unique floorplan and design. Each is a work of art, with its own style. Moseby's for example, is Victorian style, like the Tipton in Boston, while this one is distinctly of this century. I thought you might like the modern style. It's the only one with the glass floor and has the biggest TV."

Zack and Cody are lost for words.

"Oh, by the way, there are three holographic panels in this residence, one in the bathroom, one by the elevator and one over there, between the beds."

A hologram pops up between the two beds on cue.

"You can control local security like door locks, call anyone on the ship or, in the event that Zack decides to try and cook, quarantine the entire residence and call security to assist. And finally…"

Colin walks to a nightstand and produces two Apple iPads from the drawer.

"I'm a fan of Apple products; it's a poorly-kept secret. So you can expect I was first in line to get them. These two have the added bonus of being specially programmed with an app that controls the stuff in this Residence. Not only that, but Moseby gave me your iPods. Each one has been synched with both devices, so you two can use either iPad. Just a warning though: they won't control anything outside this Residence."

_"Unless I say otherwise. But don't count on it. Last thing we need is someone inadvertently turning on the Centrifuge or something."_

Cody turns slightly pale yet again as he remembers his dream.

"I highly doubt that will happen. You know, considering it isn't finished yet?"

_"Valid point. Though I should note that we're wrapping up sooner than expected."_

"Good. Speaking of which, I'm going to go down to Engineering right now to check on that. CICIL, can you introduce Moseby to his quarters?"

_"Of course, I can wrap it up down here. You head on back to the elevator. Duncan actually just requested that you come down there."_

"I take my leave then. Enjoy your room gentlemen. I'll come find you in a little bit and we'll figure out where you two will be interning, working, helping, and etcetera."

_"Oh great! This is just going to be monkey barrels of fun, isn't it?"_

"That remains to be seen my dear caustic computer."

Colin takes one last look at the twins, laughs to himself and then walks back towards the exit.

"Later you two. Try not to blow anything up."

"No guarantees!"

The twins look around as the room as the door closes behind Colin.

"So now what?"

* * *

><p>Colin steps into the elevator and sends it up the tower. CICIL's persona materializes next to him.<p>

_"There's something odd about those two."_

"They are certainly polar opposites if that's what you mean."

_"Not exactly. Zack is a typical case of someone who has a brain but fails to use it, no doubt. Cody on the other hand… well, something is different about him."_

"He uses his brain?"

_"Not what I'm getting at."_

"Well you're the three petaflop supercomputer, you tell me!"

_"That's just it sir: I'm a computer. Cody shouldn't give me a sinking feeling."_

"Do I need to have your emotion processing routines checked?"

_"Eh, no, thank you. I'll keep thinking on it in my spare time and get back to you. I don't want to judge without having observed them for longer."_

"I think that's a good plan."

The elevator comes to a gentle stop and Colin steps out.

_"I'm holding a tram car for you at the South station. Head on down to Engineering."_

* * *

><p>Duncan is standing at the center of a circular control room, surrounded by holograms. In front of him are two chairs and adjoining displays, occupied by his subordinates. To the right is a very much miniaturized version of the Bridge's massive map being created by a wall-mounted projector. Behind him, the room rises and opens outward into a junction for all parts of the Engineering deck. Directly behind from the lowered control area is a hallway to the tram. Left of that hallway is an elevator labeled "To Centrifuge Access" and on the right is a door labeled "Preparation and Fuel Chamber Access". The circular control area has windows that look out on a catwalk in a very large and very dark chamber that seems to almost have no end. As the diminutive engineer is surveying the massive amounts of information flying past him, the noticeably taller Colin enters from the tram station.<p>

"You know, this place depresses me. It's like some gothic industrial nightmare."

He looks around at the exposed pipes, wiring, blunt angles and unquestionably drab colors.

"I can tell where Concordance started to run out of decorating budget. Anyway, how can I be of service?"

"If the twins are going to fire these, then I want you to help me check them."

"Why? You're the one in the suit."

_"Actually yours just arrived."_

"Oh really? Show me."

The wall-mounted projector changes to show a suit similar to Duncan's, except it is silver with white plating and blue lighting as opposed to the black, silver and red.

_"The Mark X Resource Integration Gear suit has been re-engineered from the prototypes to enable full thruster movement within zero gravity, extended air supply for vacuum environments, and even sustained flight within an atmospheric environment."_

Duncan looks annoyed.

"Great. So now I 'only' have the Mark 9."

_"Oh get over it. His is all shiny and fancy, but yours looks decidedly badass and evil."_

"Did the computer just call my outfit 'badass'?"

"Possibly. Now let's go take a look at that drive. CICIL, have my suit ready in preparation."

_"Will do."_

* * *

><p><em>"The Normandy" <em>- Mass Effect Soundtrack


	8. The Night Before

Chapter 7: _The Night Before_

* * *

><p>Zack and Cody are leisurely walking along the commons concourse after a four-course dinner that has left them both stuffed and tired. Zack is still working on a gigantic cookie, while Cody is simply taking everything in. They arrive at the elevator lobby and grab a car heading down. As the elevator descends, the two look out on a fiery-red sunset that is fast-vanishing in the distance.<p>

"You know Zack, how did we get here?"

"We won a contest?"

"I mean to this point in our lives. Four years ago, we were a bunch of havoc-wreaking twins that continually destroyed the Boston Tipton Hotel. Now look: we're onboard a spaceship, bound for the heavens."

"We're lucky?"

"I guess."

The sunset has turned purple, with only a light red line across the horizon as evidence of the inferno moments before.

"I've got a good feeling about this thing Codes. Don't act so depressed. You'll get to be back with Bailey and examine micro-orgasms again in a few weeks."

"Organisms Zack. Organisms. But yes, you're right otherwise."

"Of course I'm right!"

The sunset finally ends just as the elevator exits the glass portion and comes to a stop at the Executive Commons.

"Now come on, let's play another round of Left 4 Dead on the Xbox."

"Zack, you know I'm terrible at that game."

"I know. That's why you're on the zombie team."

Cody sighs loudly and follows his brother into their new home.

* * *

><p>Four campaigns, 53,539 dead zombies and five hours later, Zack is out cold on his bed, having been almost unable to even drag himself that far. Cody is still wide-awake on the sofa, staring blankly at the dark TV screen. He sighs to himself and gets up, putting his shoes on in the process. He heads for the door and ascends to the Executive Commons. The lights in the room are all off or dimmed extremely low, but they brighten at his presence. He crosses to the elevator and taps the door's idle hologram. A few moments later, a car is heard arriving, and the doors open. Cody enters the elevator and starts it going up.<p>

"Ok, so to make a call that far… where can I get that power?"

He looks out the window past the other towers and the softly glowing red lights at their ends. In the dark desert night, the illuminated Bridge presents itself only a short tram ride away. Cody suddenly remembers his visit to the deck before, and the elevators in the atrium.

"There's gotta be a relay or a radio array somewhere on that deck…"

The elevator reaches the commons and opens up. A quick check by Cody reveals the entire concourse to be devoid of life. He fast-walks to the South Tram Station, only to find it lacking both people and a car.

"How am I supposed to get to the Bridge?"

At this point he notices a holographic screen displaying a schedule on the wall.

"Oh, only two minutes. Ok."

He takes a seat and two minutes later, a tram comes rolling down the tracks. It stops and opens, revealing itself to be empty. Cody tentatively climbs aboard and looks at the map screen.

"Let's see… Bridge."

The car lurches and departs from the station.

_"Tram departing South Crew Deck Station. Now en route to: the Bridge."_

CICIL's announcement startles Cody.

"Crap, CICIL, is that you?"

_"The Central Ishimura Computerized Intelligence with Linguistics is currently in sleep mode. All sentient functions disabled."_

Cody breathes a sigh of relief.

_"Tram arriving at the Bridge."_

The car comes to a stop and Cody hops out. He strolls through the station only to be stopped halfway down the hallway by the security check.

_"Security scan initializing. Please stand still."_

Two sentinels appear and rapidly scan Cody with pinpoint lasers and other detection equipment.

_"Scan complete. Access granted."_

The sentinels disappear back down the hallway, and Cody proceeds. He puts his ear up to the blast door and hears nothing.

"Well, here we go."

He taps the hologram and winces as the buzzer sounds and the door opens. The Bridge is in total darkness beyond.

"That's a relief."

He steps beyond the threshold and the door quickly closes behind him, eliminating the only light Cody had to see.

_"Engaging auxiliary power systems."_

The lights around the room start to flicker to life, and holograms materialize. The shutters over the great massive windows start to come down, revealing a starry and clear night beyond. The large map projection appears in front of the helm and the room settles down into a humming rhythm of computers, holograms and electronics. Cody walks around to the helm and sees the elevator behind it labeled "Communications", but the hologram reads "Elevator Offline".

"Dang it!"

He takes a seat at one of the consoles directly in front of the left main screen.

"Maybe I can use this…"

CICIL's avatar materializes next to him, though she is staring only in Cody's general direction and has an unchanging stance.

_"Welcome guest, to the Ishimura Bridge. Proper identification is required to use this terminal."_

"You gotta be kidding me."

_"I'm sorry, but proper identification is required for usage. Good day."_

The AI vanishes, leaving Cody at a dead end. He swings around in the floor-mounted chair and looks at the great map.

"Hm…"

He looks back at the idle console.

"CICIL?"

The AI reappears.

_"Welcome back. Do you now have proper identification?"_

"No. Can you, I don't know, bring back your sentience or something?"

_"Restoring AI sentience is possible; however I will need identification to do that."_

"I don't have any with me."

_"Please state your name."_

"Cody Martin."

_"Stand by please."_

Cody taps his fingers on his leg impatiently for a few seconds.

_"Your identity has been confirmed, and you have sufficient access for a full restart."_

"Restart then."

_"Startup sequence initiated."_

All the computers in the room turn off, the holograms go blank and the gentle humming ambience stops, leaving silence. The great map is replaced by a giant question mark, with the words "No Input" beneath it.

"Great. Now what?"

Just as Cody finishes complaining, the room returns to life quickly, and CICIL materializes next to him. Her stance is no longer rigid and her eyes immediately snap to Cody.

_"Good morning to you Mr. Martin. How may I be of assistance?"_

"Morning?"

_"Technically. It's 1:29am."_

"Oh. Well, I noticed my cell phone doesn't have a signal and I wanted to call my girlfriend on the S.S. Tipton. She's in the Indian Ocean right now, and the way the time zones work…"

_"Yes, annoying isn't it? I understand. As for your phone, the nearest cellular tower is almost two hundred miles away, so don't count on a signal. Seeing how early it is now, and you and I are the only two people awake, I see no harm in borrowing the communications array for that purpose. That elevator is being worked on though, so we'll just do it from here. Does she have anything simple? Skype or something?"_

"I think she has a Skype account."

_"Her real-life name?"_

"Bailey Pickett."

_"Searching… done. Fascinating user name she has. Do you want to do a video call to her computer?"_

"Sure!"

_"Enthusiastic, I like it. Your username?"_

"GeologyRox."

The AI's avatar does a face-palm.

_"That has got to be the dumbest… never mind. Sentinel! Get over here!"_

One of the nimble robots floats up from the stairs nearby and moves in front of the screen, looking at Cody.

_"It's the camera, so smile. Powering up Communications."_

CICIL turns around and watches the screen too. A small box in the corner shows the view of the sentinel, with Cody and CICIL's hologram. The rest of the screen is blank as the call is connected.

_"Link established. Just waiting on her to pick up."_

* * *

><p>"And now Ms. Pickett will make her presentation on General Stonewall Jackson."<p>

Ms. Tutweiler is sitting at her desk aboard the Tipton, with the rest of the class in their desks. A projector and screen have been setup to the left, and Bailey walks up with her MacBook in hand. She plugs it in and calls up a presentation on the General. The Skype icon in the dock is bouncing up and down, but she ignores it.

"Stonewall Jackson was a Confederate Gen-"

Skype makes a phone ringing sound that blares loudly from the laptop's speakers.

"Who on Earth is calling me?"

She puts the mouse over the icon, and a box pops up.

"GeologyRox is calling me? That's Cody!"

"Everyone up!"

Tutweiler triggers a stampede to get around the computer.

"What are you waiting for? Answer it!"

Bailey clicks the icon.

* * *

><p><em>"Is she going to pick up or not?"<em>

Bailey's face abruptly appears on screen, surrounded by the faces of the rest of the class.

_"That answers my question."_

_"CODY!"_

Cody waves awkwardly.

"Hey… guys. Am I interrupting something?"

Tutweiler budges her face in.

_"Oh thank god, I thought the government kidnapped you or something."_

Bailey and the rest of the class turn and stare at Tutweiler. Cody looks confused and CICIL tilts her heads slightly.

_"I assure you, Concordance Extraction Corporation does not specialize in kidnapping bright honor students. If they did, I'd be out of a job."_

_"Who are you? And why are you so… glowing?"_

_"I am the Central Ishimura Computerized Intelligence with Linguistics, CICIL for short. I am a fully self-aware artificial intelligence that inhabits this vessel. And this is me in a hologram form, hence the glowing."_

Tutweiler looks positively dumbfounded, much to the AI's amusement.

_"Huh... interesting... So, where are you guys going? Tell us the itinerary."_

Cody turns to CICIL.

"Are you allowed to tell them?"

_"It'll be public knowledge in twelve hours anyway. Come over to the projector."_

Her persona disappears and then reappears next to the Captain's chair, facing the map projection. Cody and the sentinel follow. The map changes to show only Earth, with the Tipton and the Ishimura both marked with glowing icons on a three-dimensional spinning globe. The moon is orbiting at a distance, occasionally brushing past Cody's head as he enters the edge of the map.

_"Obviously, we are here. Earth."_

The map zooms out to show the whole solar system. A blue line slowly begins to work its way around the map as CICIL narrates.

_"We first go to the moon to deploy two probes, one at each pole, to test for water. Next is Mars, where the Japanese "Meiji" imaging satellite will be put into orbit to accompany NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter."_

The line suddenly jumps direct from Mars to Neptune.

_"At Mars we will begin tests of the Ishimura's faster-than-light drive system, and then make the jump to Neptune. Assuming the drive is working at the expected 50-75% efficiency for what will be only its second firing, we should arrive after only eight hours at maximum. At Neptune, we will deploy a CEC observation platform to determine the feasibility of gas harvesting, then jump to Saturn and do the same. Once that is done, we will proceed into the asteroid belt for mining. Once our storage is nice and full, we'll come home."_

_"How long is that going to take?"_

_"The estimated length of the voyage is five weeks."_

The class starts talking loudly amongst themselves and with Cody. CICIL suddenly seems distracted, and she turns around to look at the door to the Bridge. She tilts her head slightly.

_"Company…"_

Cody turns to her.

"Huh?"

_"Quickly. Into security. Now!"_

She ushers Cody out of the chair and terminates the link to the S.S. Tipton. The shutters begin to rise up over the windows and the lights and computers begin to shut off.

_"There's a vent access panel in the security booth's storage room. I've opened it for you. You can use the vents to return to the crew deck. Quickly, go!"_

CICIL's avatar dissipates as Cody enters the security station. The large door closes behind him and locks. He hears the buzzer of the blast door sound as someone enters the Bridge.

"I don't think I should stick around…"

Cody creeps off to the left past the multiple chairs and holographic consoles along the one-way windows. He enters the storage room and sees a vent on the wall. The cover retracts upon his approach. He hops in and the cover closes behind him. Some dim red lighting turns on, creating a lit path that leads off into the ventilation system.

"Great. This'll be fun."

Cody starts crawling along; following the path of red lights that leads him towards the rear of the ship. He passes dozens of other ducts that branch off in different directions into darkness.

"CICIL, what would I do without you?"

Cody keeps crawling and after about a half hour, he reaches another access panel at the South Crew Deck tram station. He hops out and stretches before heading for the elevators and returning to the suite.


	9. Zero Hour

Chapter 8: _Zero Hour_

* * *

><p>A red dawn breaks bright and early for the Ishimura, casting a very large shadow across the entire sprawling spaceport around it. Most of the ship is still fast asleep, save for a restless Colin, who is pacing the Bridge in circles around the central holographic projection. It has an exclamation point hovering above a map of New York City, and a particularly tall skyscraper is flashing red. He continues walking in circles for about a minute, sometimes changing direction, with a very unhappy expression on his face.<p>

"That's it, I can't take it anymore. She has to know."

He breaks the cycle and heads for the elevator on the other side of the central column. He rides it down to the bottom levels of the Bridge: Ship Systems, home of CICIL. The elevator opens up into a hallway that immediately leads off to the left. There are no windows, and the walls are made up of giant holographic screens that have rapid bits of information and coding constantly cascading down them at varying speeds. Aside from the odd light near a door or the soft blue glow from the walls, the area is forebodingly dark. After several twists and turns, the hallway ends at a single circular blast door, visually identical to the ones seen elsewhere on the vessel, with one exception. The normal small circular hologram at the door's center is gone, replaced by three interlocked dodecagonal projections that are dark blue and separated into ten pieces each.

"Great. Puzzles this early in the morning."

Colin sighs in annoyance and then goes to work. He pulls different pieces out of the three polygons and moves them around between projections at breakneck speed. After about ten seconds of this rearranging puzzle, the three projections turn green and the door opens.

"Finally."

It closes behind him as he steps into a large cylindrical chamber about the same diameter as the Bridge's width. There is a small work area directly in front of the door on a slightly-elevated square floor area with a few desks and holographic screens, but otherwise the chamber has an empty floor. The centerpiece of the room is a jumble of electronics and machinery coming out of the center of the relatively high ceiling. It works its way down with cables branching off into walls until what is left bears an uncanny resemblance to the famous "Birth of Venus" painting, except that it got caught upside down in a drooping spider web and almost broke through. At the very end of this disorganized spire of machinery is what could almost be considered a "head", a white rectangular piece of metal curved outwards with a single blue light on the outermost part that is quietly glowing. Moving upwards, a thick bundle of wires and cables forms a small "neck" that disappears into a jumbled "body" that has many cables extending outwards and upwards at random places from between white curved plating. Above this is a hub of sorts where three small identical spheres seem to be attached to the main structure, with a spot for one more that is empty. Above that the mess disappears into a contained cylindrical structure that extends all the way to the ceiling, with occasional protrusions of wires and cables into the wall. The "body" area is very quietly and very gently swinging the tiniest bit on its own within the confines of a glass platform and accompanying stairs the partially encircles the whole thing at about the level of the body. Several blue lights built into the floor shine upwards along the walls and several more form a circle around the core. Colin puts his hands on his hips and admires the room.

"Best work I've ever done."

He walks to the glass access platform and climbs it, then crosses to the lone holographic control panel at the very end, almost right next to the head. He starts typing for a few moments, then stops, gets off the platform and stands back. The same emotionless CICIL from Cody's adventures the night before comes over the speakers.

_"Power-up initiated."_

A few of the lights flicker as the core begins to move around. The head and neck rise up from a dangling, limp position to horizontal to the floor, and the blue light on the front face plate stops gently pulsing and turns bright blue.

_"Power-up complete."_

The head seems to look around for a moment and then spots Colin.

_"Bright and early to you Colin. What brings you down to my core this morning?"_

"Bad tidings. It would appear that last night, there was an attack."

_"Attack? Where?"_

"What is believed to have been a car bomb exploded at the Concordance Building in New York this morning about two hours ago, right during rush hour in Manhattan. I have been instructed to accelerate the launch and get us away from the planet as soon as possible."

_"Al-Qaeda suspected?"_

"Well, yes, we blame them for everything. But we think they were working through intermediaries. Perhaps the Aryan Nation. Who knows?"

_"Damage? Casualties?"_

"Damage was surprisingly minor, just blew out the lobby windows and sent furniture flying. Injuries were numerous on account of the flying glass, and Caroline, Uncle Cave's secretary, was hit in the head by a piece of debris. She is in a coma at Mercy Hospital."

_"Oh no! Not poor Caroline! This is awful!"_

"Yes, the poor lady is struggling. I do not know the prognosis. Too early to tell."

_"I assume you're going to tell the crew?"_

"Yes, on the morning wakeup call. As for you, just proceed with business as usual. I don't want this to affect your performance on the voyage, but I thought you deserved to know, seeing as Caroline was more or less your surrogate mother during your development."

_"I appreciate that. I won't let this affect my duties in any way, shape, or form."_

"Good to hear it. I'm going back upstairs for a painful wakeup call."

By the time Colin returns to the Bridge, the sun has risen further into the sky, shedding the red dawn for a light blue daybreak. Across the ship, the crew members are starting to wake up of their own accord. Colin's Rolex watch reads 7:58am, two minutes to wakeup call. He takes a seat in the Captain's chair and eyes the unchanged projection of New York warily. CICIL's avatar materializes next to him.

_"All morning self-checks completed. The ship is ready to go."_

"Good. I have enough on my plate today without ship malfunctions."

_"Understood."_

Colin looks at his watch and eyes the second hand as it ticks out the last fifteen seconds. The hands hit 8:00am.

"Wakeup time. Hit the array microphone, I'm going to be pacing for this one."

_"Array microphone ready. You can move around at will while speaking."_

Colin gets up, takes a deep breath and motions to CICIL. The PA makes two tones, one lower and then one higher to announce its use.

_"Good morning crew of the Ishimura! Happy launch day to all of you, it is 8:01am, August 8th, 2010. Shameless self-promotion here: it is in fact my 17th birthday."_

Cheering erupts from throughout the ship.

_"You are all too kind. Anyway, weather outside is clear skies with a beautiful sunrise, and with temperatures currently hovering at a pleasant 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, despite the weather, all is not well."_

Colin takes a deep breath, which sounds more like a dramatic pause over the speakers.

_"At approximately 8:30am Eastern Standard Time, 6:30am our time, there was a terrorist attack in New York City. A car bomb exploded in front of the Concordance Building during the height of morning rush hour."_

There is a rush of exclamations and murmuring amongst the crew, who are all now listening very intently. In their suite, Zack and Cody are now both sitting up in bed, very attentive.

_"The explosion blew out the lobby and wounded around two hundred people with flying glass and debris. I am informed that three people were killed in a taxi cab that was next to the bomb vehicle. The blast also severely injured the beloved Caroline, my uncle's secretary, and she is at Mercy Hospital in a coma. It is unknown if she will recover, as it is too early for an accurate prognosis."_

Colin paces the Bridge as a visibly-saddened CICIL looks on.

_"Now I don't need to tell you how much Caroline meant to me or to all of you. After all, who can forget that sweetheart who baked the entire crew cookies, hm? Or how much she meant to our own beloved AI. So as we run through a now-expedited schedule for the day, I want you all to keep her in your thoughts. Let's have a good launch and show the world that this whole project was worth the trillions invested. Thank you for your attentiveness, and be looking at your RIG communicators for the new day schedule."_

Colin motions to CICIL, who shuts off the system.

_"Well, I think you broke the news rather well. Calm, collected and to the point."_

"That was the idea. I'm going to go grab some breakfast; hold down the fort here would you?"

_"Of course."_

The Ishimura's mess hall, located on Habitat C, is a model of efficiency. The room has five levels, each specializing in a different food type and offering different seating arrangements. The bottom level is a bar and lounge area, with a small stage. Above it, the other levels have balconies that look down on any entertainment going on, all against a backdrop of the outside, as the wall is a giant convex window facing towards the front of the ship. As Colin walks in, the entire mess is abuzz with activity as the crew eats their last terrestrial breakfast. Despite the hundreds of people trying to eat at once, the lines move quickly, and before long, Colin is sitting down at the reserved captain's table with Alex, White and Moseby. There are two reserved places for Duncan, Zack and Cody, but none of them are present.

"Good morning to you three."

The other three acknowledge him politely.

"Where are the twins?"

Alex and White shrug while Moseby rolls his eyes.

"A decade of experience tells me that they're either sleeping in or generally doing something they're not supposed to."

"That's a cynical look on things. Are they really that bad? I mean, Zack is arrogant, but Duncan put him in his place."

"Dang right I did."

Duncan comes up and sits down. Moseby takes a sip of coffee before responding.

"Those two are genuinely good people, I'm not trying to convey that they aren't, but they just have some growing up to do. That's all. They cause mayhem for their own enjoyment, but they don't realize how it affects others. Or each other for that matter."

CICIL's persona materializes at the center of the table from a small hologram projector.

_"My thoughts exactly. I've only known them for a day and that was the impression they gave me already."_

"In England it'd be off to prep school for those two."

_"Yes Mr. White, but then again, there's a reason America declared independence from jolly old England."_

"Burned."

"Well at least we're not all fat from American fast food!"

_"Are you implying something about me Mr. White?"_

There is a collective gasp from the table at the insinuation. Alex moves to refocus the conversation.

"Ok, calm down people. Back to the twins."

Alex turns to Moseby.

"Do you think that the lack of maturity will be a problem?"

Moseby thinks for a moment.

"No. I don't think so. They're going to have to learn, probably the hard way. I think they'll realize that there isn't any place for their antics on this ship."

_"One can only hope. Otherwise I'll be stuck cleaning up the mess. Oh, here they are now."_

The twins come down the stairs connecting the mess hall levels and Moseby waves them over. Colin, who has finished his breakfast, politely excuses himself and takes his tray to the dishwashing area.

"Come, sit down Zack and Cody."

At Alex's beckoning, the two sit down.

"So, how was your first night aboard the Ishimura?"

CICIL and Cody exchange glances.

"Pretty good."

"Glad to hear it. Are you ready for the launch? There's no turning back you know. Once we leave, you're here for the next five weeks, like it or not."

"I'm sure as heck not leaving. I've got all the fun things to do in the world."

"Likewise. I have all the intelligent conversation I could ever want right here."

Cody gestures to CICIL.

_"I'm flattered. Truly. Now, excuse me, I must tend to things on the Bridge."_

CICIL's avatar dissipates.

"Well, it won't all be fun and games. School is still in session, so in order to get your credits for the weeks you are gone, you two must intern with a department on the ship."

Zack groans, but Cody looks reasonably excited.

"Anywhere?"

"Yes. Any deck, any branch, any specialty. You'll learn more about each deck and the jobs of the crew within as the voyage starts. You two will gradually be introduced to each area in this first week while we're on the way to and at the moon."

_"Attention: would Colin Shepard report to the Bridge please?"_

_"I'm already here!"_

_"Where?"_

_"BEHIND YOU."_

_"Oh. How creepy."_

The PA clicks off to some chuckles from the crew.

"Well, time waits for nobody."

Alex rises from the table.

"I've got some prep to do before we launch. I think we're giving a press conference soon."

"In an hour actually sir."

"Well I'm glad I have you around White, I couldn't possibly remember all this on my own. If you'll excuse us."

The two officers depart, leaving Zack, Cody and Moseby to quickly finish breakfast and make an exit of their own.

* * *

><p><em>"Sovereign's Theme"<em> and _"The Normandy" _- Mass Effect Soundtrack


	10. To Crack the Sky

Chapter 9: _To Crack the Sky_

* * *

><p><em>"All systems seem normal, Habitat A is finally cooperating, Duncan isn't locked out of his deck, the press conference is underway and cargo loading is complete. Things are going well, if I may say so."<em>

"Yes. Very."

Colin is standing at the very front of the Bridge, looking out the windows with a slightly troubled expression on his face.

_"You sound less than convinced."_

"I do?"

_"Colin, I have known you since I first achieved intelligence. Your sarcasm can't hide things from me. Speak your mind while this room is empty."_

"As you wish."

He begins pacing the room as CICIL looks on from her position next to the captain's chair.

"I spoke with Marion Moseby a fair bit last night. Seems you and I are not the only ones with concerns."

_"He's known them the longest out of all of us."_

"Yes, and what he tells me of their behavior is troubling. While on the outside they are both seemingly carefree and cheerful, if mischievous, both have deep insecurities in their own way."

_"Such as?"_

"Take Cody. Genius, perfect grades, perfect attendance."

_"I see nothing wrong with those traits."_

"What's wrong is what he lacks. Confidence and courage… and upper body strength. Now take Zack as the opposing example. Great personality, no shortage of ladies after him, confidence to do stupid things regularly. He is insecure because of Cody's massive intelligence, so naturally, he suppresses it by always being the dominant extroverted twin."

_"That was impressive. When did you become a psychiatrist?"_

"I've always been good at judging people's emotions and inner feelings with few hints. It's a sort of sixth sense: I pick up on the tiny idiosyncrasies others can miss. And I got a 98 semester average in AP Psychology last year, thank you very much."

_"Value that trait. It will serve you well."_

"I will. Now, that's enough chatting. We've got a spaceship to launch."

_"That we do."_

The door to the Bridge suddenly opens and White and Alex enter, somewhat sweating from the heat of the outside press conference.

"Oh hey guys. So, how did it go?"

"It was a freaking media circus."

"And you were expecting different?"

"No, but it's still annoying. But enough about that. How are we looking?"

"Pretty good, the crew is wrapping up breakfast and will be reporting to their post in about fifteen minutes. We just passed final pre-flight checks according to CICIL, and docking control reports ready."

"Great."

"Why don't you two go cool off in Refrigeration West or something? I can take care of things up here until we go to stations."

"Not a bad idea."

Alex and White exit as Colin turns back to the main projector.

"So, what are Moseby's hooligans up to?"

_"Not much. They seem to-"_

"What?"

_"Oh you are KIDDING me."_

The projector changes to a security feed of the lobby outside the Executive Residences. Cody is banging on his door in nothing but a towel. The view splits to show a second feed of Zack laughing hysterically on the other side.

"Your door security protocol needs work. Especially if Zack could hack it."

_"Stop reminding me."_

"I'll go take care of this."

Partly amused and partly annoyed, Colin exits the Bridge and grabs a tram.

* * *

><p>"ZACK! OPEN THE FREAKING DOOR!"<p>

_"HAHA! Sucker! Just like back at the hotel!"_

Cody is standing outside the door to the twin's shared residence, sopping wet and in only a bath towel. The door hologram is highly distorted and reads "Power Malfunction!".

"Zack, I swear to god, OPEN THIS DOOR OR I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

_"And that's the best part: I can't open it even if it wanted to!"_

There is a chime as the elevator arrives at the lobby. Cody whirls around in horror to see Colin step out. He looks at Cody with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh… hi Colin… this is exactly what it looks like."

Without answering, Colin walks over next to Cody and surveys the door.

"Not impressed Zack!"

Colin calls up a hologram from thin air.

"This should do it."

He types a few things in and sends it away. Every single light, door lock, hologram or electronic device in the area goes dead as an alarm sounds.

_"Restarting power grid in the Executive Residences. Stand by."_

"Five seconds…"

Everything begins to turn back on.

_"Power has been restored."_

The holograms on all the doors return, except they all have question marks instead of words.

_"Diagnostic mode initiated for Crew Deck door control protocol."_

Colin taps the door to the twin's room and it opens. Cody charges in.

"ZACK! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"My work is done."

Colin strolls off back to the elevator.

* * *

><p>Duncan is quietly standing at the center of the Engineering Control Room, watching his crew around him. Colin enters from the tram station and walks right past Duncan and into the preparation room. He walks out five minutes later clad in his new suit, stretching to test the suit's flexibility.<p>

"Well? How do I look?"

"Not too bad actually."

"CICIL, run checks please."

_"As you wish. Stand by."_

Colin leans against a wall as the suit begins to check itself on everything from flight control surfaces to hologram projection.

_"Resource Integration Gear self-test completed successfully. No variances or anomalies detected."_

"I assume you had a reason for putting that on?"

"Check the clock."

Duncan glances at his watch. It's 10:30 in the morning.

"So it's time then?"

"It is. CICIL, summon the twins to the Engineering Deck."

_"Zack and Cody Martin to the Engineering Deck immediately."_

"Bring them to me in Engine Control Access when they arrive."

"You got it boss."

Colin exits the room to the left through a door that opens into a small twisting corridor. Exposed wires and pipes, and gray and brown color scheme and dim fluorescent lighting render it an unfriendly environment.

"Yep. Definitely ran out of decorating budget on this deck."

He walks for a bit towards the back of the ship, eventually arriving at a hexagonal blast door that has no hologram at its center, though the projector for it is present.

_"Apologies, but this door lock is not operational."_

"And how do you expect me to get in there?"

_"Elbow grease."_

Colin sighs loudly and looks at the door. A large bar is coming from the lock at the center, reaching almost to the right-side edge of the door at a downward 45 degree angle. Colin grips it with both hands and slowly pushes it up until it latches in place at a 3 o'clock position. The door splits into three sections and retracts away into the walls.

_"Now that wasn't so difficult, was it?"_

"Be quiet and just get the damn thing working."

_"Fine."_

Colin steps through the door into the darkness beyond. It shuts behind him and lights flicker to life. Colin is standing in a large and very hot chamber, with steam radiating up from beneath the mesh-patterned floor. The chamber is sandwiched between two of the main engines, one above and one below. The upper one actually makes up the ceiling as a massive cylinder originating above the entry door and heading all the way to the other side of the room and beyond. The lower one resides about twenty feet beneath floor-level, somewhat visible through the patterned floor itself. The engines themselves are segmented into three sections that seem to be able to move independently. A tiniest bit of daylight from outside can be seen coming from both tubes, hinting as to their exit. The room is otherwise fairly uninteresting, a few workbenches, some storage lockers and a lone ventilation access panel in the corner. The only other thing of note is a hologram console at the far end of the room, sitting in front of a large column that is helping to support the engine above. Colin crosses to it and it awakens upon his approach, showing a diagram of all four engines.

"How are we looking?"

_"Everything checks out."_

"Are they ready for ignition?"

_"Actually no. We need to prime them first. Trying to start them without fuel circulating already could cause a backfire."_

"Like in a propeller aircraft."

_"Yes. Same concept on a much larger scale. Also, I will need a moment to bring the reactor to full power. These are Nuclear Thermal Engines after all."_

"Gotta get the ignition heat from somewhere."

_"Indeed. I'll work on the reactor: you prime the system."_

"Got it."

Colin starts manipulating the holograms. They change to show the fuel circuits to all four engines, flashing red.

_"Initializing systems. Starting fuel pumps. Checking fuel reserves. Fuel reserves at 100%."_

They begin to flash yellow as a white line in each circuit traces the flow of fuel in the system.

_"Priming."_

There is a loud hissing from above and below as fuel flows into the chamber's two engines. The circuits on the hologram change to green.

_"Systems primed. Engines ready."_

The hissing stops as the fuel flow is severed.

_"All right, we've got fuel in the lines now and the reactor is coming up to full power. The twins have arrived and are on their way down with Duncan. I fixed that door lock by the way. Just a data cable that wasn't completely plugged in."_

"Good. "

Colin just stands at the holograms and waits. In less than a minute, the blast door opens and Duncan walks in, followed by Zack and Cody. Colin acknowledges them without even turning away from the holograms.

"Welcome gentlemen, to Engine Control Access."

"Geez it's hot in here!"

"You're sandwiched between two of the Ishimura's four Nuclear Thermal Engines. Look above and below."

The twins do so and are taken aback.

"During operations, those two engines will be putting out enough flames and heat to melt you in a few seconds if you don't enter this room without one of these suits. And always come in with another person, never alone. Gotta watch each other's backs. Literally."

Colin reaches around his back and taps this spine of his suit, where a series of holographic bars start around his waist and end at his neck.

"CICIL, can you demonstrate?"

The bars begin to drop, slowly changing from and original bright blue to yellow, then orange, then red as they are reduced.

"The Resource Integration Gear keeps track of one's health and well-being. If the bar on someone's back completely disappears, then they are clinically dead. Keep an eye on each other, and you'll be fine. It's one of many ways that teamwork is essential on this ship."

Colin turns around.

"Got it?"

Zack and Cody nod in understanding.

"Ok. That's enough depressing stuff. Let's fire some rockets! Come over here to the controls."

Zack and Cody's moods both immediately brighten and they race over to Colin.

"I'll return to the Control Room to monitor things. Have fun."

Duncan exits.

_"Alright, it's now 10:42am, engines need to be firing in 3 minutes. Right on schedule. Hit it."_

"Will do. Ok you two, I've prepped everything. The engines are primed and ready. All you two need to do is give your handprints for authorization, then hit the red button together."

The holograms change to show two spots for handprints.

_"Enter your handprints simultaneously please."_

The twins do so.

_"Handprints recognized and logged. Zack and Cody Martin."_

The holograms move aside to allow a red button pop up out of the console. The twins both put their hands on it, then look at each other.

"Ready Zack?"

"Ready Cody."

They both push the button in. The lights in the room flicker and the room itself shakes as three successive blasts of air pressure come from each of the two engines. The three different segments on both begin to spin opposite of one another as the whine of powering up machinery fills the air.

_"Ignition sequence initiated. Please stand by."_

The room begins to vibrate, only slightly at first, but it grows in intensity quickly. A mild suction kicks up as the air pressure inside the tubes changes in relation to the room around them. Within a few moments of the power up beginning, fuel begins to fly down the tube; thousands of tiny droplets moving at incredibly high speed. The ramp up begins to come to an end, and the engines settle into a rhythm of thrumming every few seconds.

_"Engines ready. Please confirm ignition?"_

CICIL's voice can barely be heard over the symphony of machinery. Zack and Cody look at each other again, nod in agreement, then hit the button again. Everything seems to go into slow motion as a red glow begins at the far ends of the tubes and rushes its way towards the end. One second later a deafening column of flame roars down each engine tube and out the back of the ship, generating a heat snap that takes the twins by surprise as the room temperature rises to almost 110 degrees instantly.

_"Engines firing!"_

Colin taps the two shocked twins on the shoulder and guides them to the exit. As the blast door closes behind them, Zack and Cody look at each other and immediately start laughing at how messed up they now look on account of the engines.

_"Well done gentlemen. Well done."_

* * *

><p><em>"Engine power is at level one sir. Ready for dustoff."<em>

Zack and Cody enter the Bridge with Colin to find every man at his post, and a ship straining at its leash. The vibration from the engines can be felt all the way at the Bridge, though here it is a gentle humming as opposed to shaking. Captain Alex is in his chair, flanked by First Officer White.

"Thank you CICIL. Prepare to release gravity tether docking mechanisms."

_"Gravity tethers on standby for release."_

"On my mark."

Alex eyes his watch as the hands count down the final seconds to 11:00am.

"Mark!"

The beams of energy containing the ship in its dock turn off, and the Ishimura immediately powers forward and up, away from the cheering crowd of onlookers and media at the spaceport.

_"Tethers released. Vertical thrusting online and stable."_

Alex and White look at each other.

"You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever bloody be."

Alex eyes a control near the steering joystick that looks suspiciously like a throttle. A holographic "1" is being projected into the air next to it, and the control seems to be at its lowest setting.

"Well, I'm not going to make any fancy speeches. Let's just see what this baby's got!"

Alex pushes the throttle to a little more than halfway to the maximum. The ship takes off as the engines kick into high gear, sending out a minor shockwave from the increased thrust. Zack and Cody nearly lose their balance, though Colin seems perfectly stable in his suit.

_"Engine power set to level six."_

CICIL, who seems to be in charge of the joystick, materializes herself on the left of Alex, opposite White.

"Take us up."

_"Thought you'd never ask."_

The joystick pulls back and the Ishimura gradually enters a 45 degree climb.

_"Ship-wide artificial gravity engaged. Compensating for angle of ascent."_

Zack and Cody suddenly feel very much rooted to the floor, no longer feeling as if they could fall backwards at any moment.

_"One minute to breakthrough point."_

Alex finally notices Zack and Cody standing nearby in shock at the rapidly unfolding events.

"Oh hey you two. Nice of you to drop by."

The calm demeanor of Alex and the rest of the crew shocks the twins even more.

"Well, pick your mouths up off the floor and come over here! You two get to help put us into orbit."

_"Oh dear..."_

"Can it you! Zack, come over here to the engine power controls. Cody, you get the joystick."

_"Lesser of two evils?"_

Alex glares at the AI, silencing her. The twins do as asked, Zack's hand hovering over the throttle and Cody's gripping the still-automated joystick.

_"Atmospheric breakthrough in 30 seconds."_

"When she announces 15 seconds, Cody I want you to start a gradual turn to the left and Zack, I want you to punch that thing to level nine! Got it?"

"Got it."

Satisfied with a unanimous reply, Alex sits back and observes.

_"Fifteen sec-"_

CICIL is cut off as Zack slams the throttle to almost maximum and Cody starts the left turn. The Ishimura smashes through the top of the atmosphere and pulls a smooth and quick left turn to begin orbiting. The engines begin to lower their power as CICIL retakes control.

_"Autopilot reengaged. Maneuvering into High Earth Orbit. Congratulations Captain, Ishimura launch successful."_

Applause and cheering breaks out across the ship as it settles into orbit without incident.

_"And a brief present for all of you to mark this historic occasion from yours truly. Entering zero gravity!"_

CICIL disengages the artificial gravity across the ship, giving the crew a taste of weightlessness. Zack and Cody too start to float on the Bridge, though Colin remains firmly rooted to the floor in his RIG suit. Zack sees this and takes the opportunity to mock him from the rafters.

"Haha! You can't get me!"

"Wanna bet?"

Colin jumps up into the air and is instantly weightless. Several tiny thrusters on his shoulders, legs and feet allow him full movement in the environment. He floats up to a humbled and surprised Zack.

"I win."

Colin snaps his fingers.

_"As you wish Colin. Exiting zero gravity."_

The artificial gravity slowly resumes, allowing everyone to make a smooth landing.

_"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you launch a spaceship."_

* * *

><p><em>"In Flight"<em> - Composition for Concert Band by Samuel R. Hazo


	11. Loose Cannons

Chapter 10: _Loose Cannons_

_"Course to the moon locked in. It'll be about twelve hours before we arrive."_

It is now 8:00pm shipboard time, and the Ishimura is still hovering in the relative safety of Earth's orbit. Captain Alex, with White at his side, gazes out the windows at a moon that seems tantalizingly close, yet is actually still quite far away.

"Well, that's a third of the time it took Apollo. I'll settle for that."

_"Very well sir. All checks completed successfully, and we are now changing course to head for the moon."_

The ship rumbles as the engines throttle up to escape Earth's gravity. The floor slowly begins to tilt as the Ishimura banks to the right.

"Easy on the degrees there… let's not spill anything."

The ship levels out.

_"Satisfied?"_

"Decidedly. Tell Colin his window is now open for… whatever that crazy project is."

_"Understood."_

* * *

><p>"Now look what you did! You spilled it!"<p>

"It wasn't my fault! The ship tilted!"

Zack and Cody are in the kitchen of their suite, arguing loudly. A shattered blender container is on the floor, mixed with some smoothie.

_"My god, what are you two arguing about?"_

"He spilled my smoothie!"

"Not my fault, she's a bad pilot!"

_"I beg your pardon? Cody, are you blaming me for the fact that you spilled it?"_

"Possibly."

"This is pointless..."

Zack throws his hands up in the air and storms out of the residence, leaving Cody and a sentinel to clean up the mess.

* * *

><p><em>"We're changing course now Colin. You are clear to proceed with deployment."<em>

CICIL's avatar is hovering slightly in front of Colin, who is standing in middle of the main hangar bay. The Executive Shuttle has been moved off to the side, and Colin is still wearing his suit, which keeps him rooted to the floor. The focus of his attention is a group of what appears to be 12 sleek satellites floating around the chamber. They consist of two symmetrical folded-up solar panels attached to a cylindrical body that has large aperture at one end. A second, much smaller cylindrical body is attached to the first and seems to contain communications equipment, as it has three antennas poking out the top and a camera of sorts at the bottom, facing the same direction as the large aperture next to it. Aside from the silver and blue solar arrays, the satellites are painted a matte black.

"Well that's the best damn news I've heard all day. Let's go people, these puppies aren't going to deploy themselves!"

The deck staff jumps into action, using magnetic tethers to position the previously free-floating satellites into an orderly line up to the bay's blast doors.

"Will you look at that: crazy-tyrant technology at its best!"

_"To put it mildly…"_

Colin waves his hand in a circle above his head and then points at the doors.

_"All deck personnel stand by; opening primary hangar bay doors."_

The blast doors begin to slowly slide open and a bluish-gray energy field materializes in the resulting gap.

_"Atmospheric containment fields online."_

"Launch all platforms!"

The magnetic tethers accelerate the satellites one-by-one out of the hangar and away from the ship. As they reach a safe distance from the Ishimura, thrusters begin to push them away to pre-determined spots in Earth orbit.

_"All platforms away, turning over control to local satellite guidance. Deployment successful. Now when do we get to use them?"_

"I'll be working on the software stuff while we're here at the moon and I can quickly talk to the platforms. When we head for Mars, I'll work for as long as I can, then put them into hibernation until we get back."

_"Well if the platforms are built, then how much more is there to be done?"_

"They've only got basic software on them right now, to keep them in orbit. Nothing else works until I overwrite their memories with the real stuff."

_"Sounds like you better get to it."_

* * *

><p>Zack is riding up the elevator from the Executive Commons, still fuming about the smoothie. Annoyed and impatient with the elevator, he turns his attention outside to see the twelve satellites falling away from the ship and back towards Earth. He watches them disappear from view with some suspicion, but Zack's thoughts are quickly erased as the elevator arrives at the top level. The Crew Deck commons are completely deserted due to the time and Zack wanders freely around the deck for almost two hours, eventually arriving at a rather non-descript elevator at the end of a long maintenance hallway. Zack looks at the sign above the doors quizzically.<p>

"To Cannon Pit 24… what the heck is that supposed to mean? We have weapons on this thing?"

He opens and enters the elevator.

"This should be fun…"

He sends the elevator up.

_"Attention: manual operation of an Asteroid Defense System cannon is for specially-trained crew only."_

"Aha, so that's what it's for…"

The elevator opens up to a small square room. A single chair is in the center, facing the opposite wall. Zack sits down.

_"Power transferred to the ADS. Asteroid Defense System Cannon number twenty-four now online. Manual override initiated."_

The wall retracts away, revealing the massive cannon on the other side, behind a thick glass window. Two targeting lasers stretch into space, one from each barrel. The chair rises slightly, and a joystick rises from the floor to meet Zack at arm level. The joystick has two buttons, one on the back like a trigger, and one on the top. A hologram pops up to the right of the chair, displaying shield strength, hull integrity and an overheat meter. Zack grasps the joystick and moves it slightly. The cannon moves with the joystick.

"This is gonna be fun."

He uses his thumb to press the top button once. There is a resounding boom as the cannon fires a single shot into space.

_"No valid target detected. Round disarmed."_

Suddenly another hologram pops up to the left of the chair, opposite the first one. It has a list of objects in the cannon's range. Zack picks out a decommissioned US communications satellite. A third hologram is projected onto the glass wall, highlighting the target with a red symbol. Zack moves the cannon until the symbol turns green, then fires one shot from each barrel. The rounds speed away from the Ishimura and smack into the satellite, obliterating it.

_"Target destroyed."_

"Yes!"

He picks another dead satellite and shoots at it.

_"Target destroyed."_

"Oh my god this is SO AWESOME!"

He continues shooting at things until the cannon runs out of targets. Annoyed that he can no longer shoot things, Zack climbs out of the chair and exits the cannon pit.

_"Manual override disengaged. Cannon number twenty-four powered down."_

Zack takes the elevator back down and then heads to the forward section of the deck to return to his suite. As he enters the elevator down to the Executive Commons, he hears talking coming his way.

"…your guess is as good as mine. No idea why one single cannon is firing at this ungodly hour."

Zack swears under his breath as he recognizes the voice of White. He darts into the elevator and sends it down. It disappears into the shaft silently just as White rounds the corner, talking to Colin.

"Alright, random cannon aside: are you going to tell me what those satellites are?"

"Officially, they're NASA weather observation platforms that will burn up in a few weeks after gathering some seemingly useful data."

"Unofficially?"

Colin leans in close to White and lowers his voice to a whisper.

"The future."

The elevator returns from taking Zack down.

"Goodnight Mr. White."

Colin steps in and descends, leaving a somewhat confused and deeply concerned White standing by himself.


	12. Settling In

Chapter 11: _Settling In_

* * *

><p>A mere few hours after Zack's silent return to the suite, both of the twins are awakened by the ringing of an alarm clock displayed on the hologram between the two beds. The window shutters automatically begin to rise, flooding the room with light from the left side as the sun is in full view.<p>

"Argh! Why is it so bright?"

"You know Zack; you did choose the bed on that side…"

"Oh be quiet!"

The twins heave themselves out of bed and enter the bathroom, where Zack immediately claims the shower and Cody resorts to splashing cold water on his face in an attempt to wake up. The PA system clicks on across the ship with CICIL's ubiquitous voice.

_"Good morning Ishimura, it is Saturday, August 9th, 2010. It is currently 9:00am shipboard time, 2:00pm GMT. Weather aboard this morning is a pleasant 20 degrees Celsius, 68 Fahrenheit on all decks, and Hydroponics grow chambers are at a balmy 25 degrees Celsius, 77 Fahrenheit. Today is the first day of the maiden voyage, so we are running on modified schedule B. Check your RIG for the latest updates. That's all for this morning, so let's get to it. Breakfast serving will begin in approximately 20 minutes."_

The PA shuts off. Cody, now sufficiently awake, returns to the bedroom and changes into some khaki shorts and a polo shirt. Zack comes out of the bathroom and looks at Cody funny.

"You look like you're going golfing."

"…thanks?"

_"Is there a problem with looking like a golfer?"_

Zack looks up at the ceiling, trying to find the source of CICIL's voice.

"Who asked you?"

_"Nobody. But you two are already regular spectacles in the two days we've been at this, so I might as well interject my input."_

"Terrific."

_"At least he's wearing clothes. I don't want to see that flab."_

Cody has to restrain himself from laughing as Zack looks down at his stomach.

"That's not flab, its muscle!"

_"I'm sure it's obvious to all the girls you hit on."_

"Hey!"

_"Well that's all the time I have to poke fun for right now. Good day."_

* * *

><p>"God almighty… this is being so freaking annoying…"<p>

A few hours after wakeup call, Colin is quietly sitting in a chair on the otherwise empty Bridge, pouring over lines of computer code displayed on a hologram.

_"Having trouble?"_

CICIL's avatar appears next to him.

"Something like that. Stupid codes for the Communications Array are driving me up a wall. The array stubbornly refuses to change its encryption keys, even though they are being continually rejected by any ground station it tries to communicate with."

_"Even the Citadel?"_

"The Citadel isn't talking to us and apparently not even CEC's secondary uplink in the Aleutians is acknowledging the encryption keys."

_"Why don't you let me take a look and go get some breakfast?"_

Colin holds up an empty plate with one hand to show CICIL.

"Two waffles, three pieces of bacon and a glass of orange juice haven't helped my debugging skills."

_"Still, it wouldn't hurt to take a break. Clear your head perhaps."_

"Well, I suppose I can go check in with Duncan and see what's up with him."

_"He's got his hands full at the moment I believe… Zack's first day on the job."_

"Then there is no way in hell I'm going anywhere near Engineering today."

The blast door buzzer sounds and Alex enters the room.

"Ah, Colin, there you are! I need you to go to Engineering for me."

"You gotta be kidding me."

"What?"

"Not happening."

"Why not?"

"Heh…"

Colin and CICIL exchange glances.

"…job hazard."

* * *

><p><em>"Tram now en route to the Engineering Deck, with continuing service to the Medical Deck."<em>

Zack and Cody are sitting opposite of each other in the tram car as it speeds towards the rear of the ship. They sit in silence as the car gently rocks back and forth on the tracks.

_"Now approaching the Engineering Deck."_

Zack gets to his feet.

"Well, here we are buddy. Time to split."

"It would look that way. Try not to get yourself killed."

"Same to you."

The car comes to a stop and Zack climbs out.

"See you at dinner!"

"Likewise!"

The tram departs again, leaving Zack alone on the platform. He turns towards the door to Engineering.

"Let's go find Duncan."

He walks through the door and down the hallway to the Central Control Room, which is now heavily populated with deck staff. Duncan is in the middle of it all, his watchful eye upon the Engineering crew. He hears Zack approaching.

"Well, would you look at that? Zack Martin has come to join our team."

Some snickers come from the crew.

"Hello to you too Duncan."

"Oh Zack, don't sound so put out. You'll see Cody again soon enough. Think of this as an opportunity to do something vaguely important and meaningful in your life!"

"Alright then. Let's get started."

"No comeback then? Very well. You've already seen Engine Control Access… so I believe a trip to the centrifuge is in order."

"Centrifuge?"

"I knew you'd perk up at that. Let's suit up and I'll show you."

Duncan leads Zack into a door off to the side of the control room. Beyond the door is a large locker room with several RIG suits each hanging on a wall-mount. Each one has a foot locker beneath it with the name of the crew member inscribed on a name plate.

"Yours is in the corner. I'm already suited up, so meet me outside when you're done."

Duncan exits as Zack looks at his suit on the wall. A sentinel appears from seemingly out of nowhere and looks at Zack almost quizzically.

_"Perhaps you'd like to know where to start?"_

"Maybe."

_"Tell you what; this one's on the house."_

Several more sentinels appear. Each one takes a part of the suit and then they all converge on Zack. Within thirty seconds, Zack is fully clad in the RIG suit.

"Thanks."

_"One time only."_

The sentinels scatter, leaving Zack to examine his new outfit as he slowly walks out to Duncan in the control room.

"That didn't take as long as I expected. Not bad Zack. Come on, let's go."

They cross the room and pass through another door which leads to a large rectangular chamber that is completely white and bathed in UV light.

"Sorry Zack, but the centrifuge is delicate. We have to go through mandatory decontamination checks first."

"No big."

The door shuts behind them and locks. The door at the other end changes from "Locked" to "Stand By".

_"Decontamination sequence initiated. Please stand by. Remain still during the process please."_

Some sort of cleaning agent bursts forth from sprinklers in the ceiling. Lasers scan the two and pinpoint contaminants, which are sprayed directly by robotic nozzles on the wall. After a minute of this, the sprinklers stop and the doors unlock.

_"Decontamination completed. Thank you for your patience."_

They proceed through the door and enter an airlock.

_"Warning. Centrifuge offline. Control modules have been automatically detached. Use caution."_

"She means don't do anything stupid."

_"That too."_

The airlock pressurizes and then admits Duncan and Zack into an elevator, which takes them down to almost the very bottom of the ship. Emerging into a long hallway, they make their way to yet another airlock with a glass floor, which shows that they are at the very bottom of the ship. The airlock pressurizes, and then admits them onto a balcony of a massive circular chamber, at the bottom and center of which is the largest machine Zack had ever seen. The gigantic centrifuge stands below them, though not spinning. Zack notices some sort of strange energy field dividing the entrance separating the airlock and the chamber. He soon realizes why.

_"Entering zero gravity."_

Despite this announcement, Zack, though feeling lighter, does not start floating.

"Why aren't we floating? CICIL says we're in zero-g."

"These suits have magnetic boots that keep us anchored. You can jump to other surfaces though, just look for a moment where you want to go. If the suit thinks it's a valid landing surface, it'll beep at you and then let you jump at it. The suit will help maneuver you to it. The boots will automatically disengage and reengage their magnets. Watch me."

Duncan locks on to the ceiling, then jumps to it. His suit's thrusters flip him 180 degrees in mid air and he lands softly, now standing on the ceiling. Zack is in awe.

"Let me try it!"

He locks on to the ceiling next to Duncan and jumps. Zack glides effortlessly through the air above the centrifuge, spinning 180 degrees to a soft landing next to Duncan. They are now both standing on the ceiling.

"Not bad. Now, jump to the floor next to the centrifuge and I'll show you how to use this thing."

Duncan jumps to the bottom floor of the chamber, right next to the centrifuge itself. Zack follows.

"Good! Now, this thing has two modules that must be attached manually in order to power it up. We can do that with the RIG suit's Kinesis module. It's a super-charged directional magnetic field that can manipulate most objects that are "Grip Enabled". Just look for a little blue triangle logo."

Zack eyes one of the centrifuge's power modules sitting on its track about ten feet away.

"Use it to drag the module over there along the track and connect it."

Zack walks over to the module, and then eyes his right hand.

"How do I use it?"

"Cock your wrist back so your hand is at almost a ninety degree angle to your arm. This will turn the module on and the suit will project a line that you can aim to select what you want to pick up. Then simply clench your hand into a fist and move around accordingly. The beam will be activated, and act as an extension of your own arm. Unclench your hand from a fist and the beam will stop."

Zack aims his right arm at the module on the tracks and then cocks his wrist back. A red targeting laser shoots out of his right hand and shines on the module. He then makes a fist. A beam of magnetic energy shoots out from his hand and attaches to the centrifuge module, causing Zack to suddenly feel weight on his arm. He tugs back, and the module glides towards its attachment spot on the centrifuge's base.

"It feels like this thing is attached to my arm with rope or something!"

"It feels weird at first, but you'll get used to it."

The module glides into its spot and locks into place.

_"Module one attached."_

"Not too shabby."

Duncan walks over and attaches the second module.

_"Module two attached. Centrifuge power restored."_

"Now, jump with me back to the entrance. Let's fire it up!"

"Now you're talkin'!"

The two jump back to the wall above the entrance, then back to the floor. They walk to the right a ways until they come to a set of hologram control panels. A hologram has popped up, asking to restart the centrifuge.

"I'll give you the honor Zack. Be warned: this is why we have helmets."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Zack presses "yes" on the hologram. The room flies into action. The energy field at the door to the airlock disappears as railings pop up on the balcony, restricting jumping, the centrifuge begins to spin and the floor drops out and retracts away, throwing the room into a vacuum. The centrifuge is mounted on four large support beams that are all that is left of the floor. CICIL announces the events through the suit helmet's headset.

_"Centrifuge activated. Re-establishing gravitational balance with planetary orbit. Room gravity restored. Entering vacuum."_

Zack stares over the railing at the scene below in awe. Between the revolutions of the centrifuge is a straight view down to Earth below the Ishimura in her low orbit. The continent of Africa is in the current view, which is nighttime, as the sun is on the other side of the planet. Lights shine up from the surface, indicating large urban centers. Duncan's voice over the helmet radio shakes Zack out of his trance.

"Beautiful isn't it? Even though we have an hour of air in these suits, I'm going to shut it off, since we don't have any mining payload tethered and in need of counterbalancing. One sec."

Duncan presses something on the hologram. The centrifuge slows to a stop and the floor slides back out of the wall and rises to meet the base of the centrifuge. The railings lower and the room re-pressurizes. The energy field at the door to the airlock reappears as the artificial gravity shuts off.

_"Centrifuge deactivated. Exiting vacuum. Entering zero gravity. Detaching control modules."_

The modules detach from the base of the centrifuge and roll back on their tracks to their starting spots. Zack is speechless.

"So what'd you think?"

"That. Was. AWESOME!"

"Glad to hear it. Come on, let's go back up and get out of these suits. It's almost lunch time, actually."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah, your day is almost half over. Imagine that!"

"Can't wait for the second half!"

* * *

><p><em>"Tram is now approaching the Medical Deck."<em>

Cody gets up as the car comes to a gentle stop and the doors open. He steps out onto a station platform similar to the one on the Bridge. White lettering on the floor reads "Medical Deck". A sentinel is waiting for Cody on the platform, projecting CICIL's hologram.

_"Welcome to Medical. The dear Dr. Kyne is… well let's just say I have no idea where he ran off to, so let's kill some time with a tour shall we?"_

The sentinel leads the way through a door straight ahead and down a long hallway. They enter a large waiting room with three doors leading off to different wings of the hospital, with a scrolling sign above each door announcing their respective areas of "Imaging Diagnostics", "Research & Genetics", and "Ishimura Clinic". CICIL waives herself through the security station, manned by one lonely guard, and opens the door to Imaging Diagnostics. Cody follows, still clueless. The two make their way along a corridor that slopes downwards before entering another door to a very large room filled with activity.

_"Welcome to Imaging- oh… found him!"_

A tall and moderately thin man with brown hair is standing with his back to Cody and CICIL. He is wearing a lab coat and is examining a clipboard with squinted eyes as an assistant looks on. He hands it to the assistant and turns around.

"What do you mean 'found him'? I've been here the whole time."

CICIL looks at Kyne sheepishly.

_"My sensors in this area are… not quite ready."_

"I'm sure that's the reason. And who is this that you dragged on this hunt too?"

"Meet your new intern."

The assistant drops the clipboard melodramatically as the entire room grinds to a halt. Everyone stares at the trio by the door. Kyne turns around and glares at his staff.

"Have you people nothing better to do?"

The various staffers and assistants all go bumbling into each other in their hurry to get back to work as Kyne looks fully prepared berate them further. Satisfied that the staff has returned to work, the doctor turns back to CICIL and Cody.

"Intern? Well then, Doctor Terrance Kyne at your service."

He shakes Cody's hand.

"Cody Martin, it's nice to meet you sir."

_"We thought perhaps Cody, being the prodigy he is, could help out in the Chemical Lab. Heck, he could probably help out anywhere."_

"I would love to have his help."

"I would love to work in a place like this!"

_"Oh good, I can toss out those contingency plans involving Central Waste Processing."_

Cody turns to look at CICIL.

"Excuse me?"

_"Nothing, nothing… I'll just let you two get to work as I leave in a nonchalant fashion…"_

The sentinel slowly retreats back through the door as Kyne and Cody awkwardly look on, before the door then abruptly closes much quicker than usual.

"That was… interesting…"

"At least you don't have to work with her for the next ten years of your life. Shall we begin the tour?"

"Sure!"

"Then let's start here."

Kyne gestures over his shoulder to the dominating feature Imaging Diagnostics: a massive cylindrical machine in the dead center on the room.

"This giant machine is our 360 degree CAT scanner. The images go to a bank of computers up there."

Kyne points to a second floor balcony on the left of the room, where a line of holograms are projected from the wall.

"If the patient needs therapy, we can take them directly into Zero-G Therapy via an access tube directly connected to the CAT scanner, back there. Now over there is the door to the Chemical Lab, and next to the door is the lift up to the CAT scanner computers and access for non patients or for those who can walk to Zero-G Therapy itself. Follow me to the Chemical Lab."

Kyne crosses the room, skirting the scanner in the center, and approaches the Chemical Lab entrance. Cody follows, absorbing everything going on around him. Kyne opens the door to the lab and the two enter. A short hallway has several doors branching off of it, and one at the far end that is locked. They start heading for the far door.

"Now, as Chief Science Officer, this is where you'll find me most of the time, either here or in Research and Genetics. The Clinic however, is the domain of Dr. Challis Mercer, Chief Medical Officer, and his assistant, Senior Medical Officer Nicole Brennan. Let me unlock this door real quick."

Kyne taps the hologram once.

"_Biometric match confirmed. Welcome Dr. Kyne and guest Cody Martin."_

The door slides open to reveal a large room with various machines lining the walls. Several lab tables occupy most of the space, each one complete with sinks, gas hook ups and an assortment of tools, vials, cylinders, flasks, and tubing. Cody is in awe.

"It's like my science classroom, only a hundred times better!"

"And you can use it to experiment as much as you want. We have a huge supply of chemicals you can use, and what we don't have, you can make. CICIL can also help you with anything you want. Just be careful, as the slightest sign of some sort of accident, unintended or out of control reaction, fire or explosion, and CICIL will quarantine the area. CICIL, could you demonstrate?"

A thick red metal screen slams down over the exit to the lab, causing Cody to jump in surprise. The door hologram, now partially covered by the grate, changes from blue and "Unlocked" to orange and "Emergency Quarantine!" whilst flashing skull and crossbones behind the words. All the lights go out and are replaced by a single spinning red warning light in the middle of the ceiling as a siren sounds.

"_Hazardous anomaly detected. Quarantine activated."_

"See? Effective."

"I noticed. How do you lift the quarantine?"

"In this case, I can have CICIL lift it since it is a demonstration, but normally it will lift automatically after the hazardous condition is gone, or security overrides it. CICIL if you please?"

The grate over the door retracts back up into the wall, the lights come back on and the alarm stops. The door hologram changes back to "Unlocked".

"_Quarantine lifted."_

"Why do I get the feeling this won't be the last time this happens?"

Kyne looks at Cody guiltily.

"My personal experience says it won't be."


	13. Communications Breakdown

Chapter 12: _Communications Breakdown_

* * *

><p>The Ishimura is all quiet as the crew settles in for the night. CICIL dims the lights to simulate nighttime everywhere except the quarters of Colin Shepard on Habitat E. His living space is modest, not nearly as large as an executive residence a few floors beneath him but still carrying the comforts of home. Colin is sitting in a large reclining chair that commands an impressive view outwards to the front of the ship through the floor-to-ceiling windows. In his hands is a copy of <em>East of Eden<em>, which he is quietly reading. CICIL materializes next to him and takes note of the book.

_"Steinbeck?"_

"Indeed."

_"Any particular reason?"_

"No, although there is some symbolism now that those twins are on board. I just wanted a good read."

_"I'm personally reading Machiavelli in my spare time."_

"You have that many spare processing cycles? That you can read Machiavelli?"

_"You have enough spare time that you can read Steinbeck?"_

"Touché."

Colin produces a bookmark from his pocket and places it in the book. He gets up and sets the novel down in the chair.

"I'm going to take a little walk to stretch my legs. Care to join me?"

_"I'd love to."_

* * *

><p>Colin exits the elevator and enters the Crew Deck's commons, where a sentinel is patiently waiting. It begins to float alongside him, projecting CICIL's figure. The two begin to just aimlessly walk around the vast space.<p>

"So, it's now been a few days. Your opinions change any on Zack and Cody?"

_"Have yours?"_

"I asked you first."

_"Yes, they have. Now that they both have something to do, their maturity rises significantly. They are both doing excellent jobs so far on their respective decks."_

"Good to hear. My opinions have also changed for the better. Zack seems to have learned that he is in fact NOT the center of attention, and Cody is in geek heaven. He keeps asking me questions about how stuff works, and I'm happy to answer."

_"Nothing classified I hope."_

"I'm not an idiot; I know what privileged information is and what isn't. He was just asking things like 'How do the holograms work?' and 'How do we maintain the oxygen supply?'. Innocent questions. It's not like we can just hide the entire Hydroponics Deck and say the oxygen is generated by pixie dust I throw in the vents."

_"When you put it that way..."_

"And I brushed off any questions relating to how you came into existence. He doesn't know that I was instrumental in your creation. And it's great! Just who exactly is going to expect that I'm your creator?"

_"Perfect cover. I should note something while we're on the topic of Cody however."_

"Go on."

_"He does have a slight weakness that could get to him out here in space. His girlfriend back home."_

"I'm sorry; the nature of AI humor escapes me. I could have sworn you just suggested he had a girlfriend."

_"That wasn't a joke. He does."_

"And you know this how?"

_"The night before the launch, he comes wandering into the Bridge and attempts to power up communications to call her on the S.S. Tipton in the middle of the Indian Ocean. He woke me up in the process. I went ahead and allowed it, seeing as the array was sitting around doing nothing at 1:30am."_

"Eh, I see nothing wrong with that."

_"Besides, the array is such a massive uplink that a single lonely Skype call isn't going to bother anything. And I do mean lonely."_

"That array is the only one we've got, so take care of it. We're officially beyond the point of return now."

_"Will do. So, on a different topic: perhaps seeing as we are alone, you might clue me in on the purpose of those satellites of yours?"_

"You know what they do."

_"I meant what was the need? Why did we put twelve of those things in orbit?"_

"Global overlapping coverage. I must be able to use them anywhere."

_"And where is the central uplink to these going to be?"_

"The Citadel."

_"Of course. Your personal fortress of solitude at the heart of Texas. I should have guessed."_

"Hey now, it's also Concordance's primary communications uplink to us. Any data traffic from this ship usually passes through the Citadel first. Assuming that damn array gets the encryption keys right…"

_"That's certainly not the primary purpose of your 2.5 kilometer high tower."_

"No… your characterization of it being my 'fortress of solitude' is perhaps the best definition. It's where I do my research, rest, brood, and as I recall, created you."

_"I remember when you first let me out into the Citadel's internal networks. Such vast quantities of information, or at least, it seemed so at the time."_

"Yeah, and then you proceeded to scare the crap out of me and poor CABAL by causing literally everything to malfunction. You even caused a near-meltdown of the dark fusion reactor."

_"Good times."_

"For you maybe."

_"Whatever happened to CABAL?"_

"He's been temporarily decommissioned. The Citadel is currently run by a rudimentary intelligence called Overwatch that I literally cobbled together in a day to stop the place from falling apart while I'm on this voyage. CABAL is due for a massive hardware revamp and software overhaul. It's on my bucket list… much to his displeasure."

_"Hopefully I'm not slated for that fate. Your bucket list is quite long."_

"Oh relax. You won't be in need of upgrades for quite some time. CABAL on the other hand traces his origins to an automated security system I programmed at my house when I was twelve. He's carrying a lot of dead weight in his coding, and I just need to overhaul all of it. You probably remember in the last few weeks before you were moved to New Mexico how he just seemed to be a bit sluggish with his thinking and actions."

_"I do remember… I believe I was out-processing him at the time."_

"You were, much to my satisfaction. And I can now safely say that you are putting that power to good use. The Ishimura is running perfectly."

_"You're too kind."_

Colin and CICIL's conversation is interrupted as the few lights that are on at this time of night flicker briefly. Several holograms also fizzle out and do not return.

"Well… that was random."

_"That's strange… I just lost my connection to the Communications Levels. No response from any sensors or Sentinels in that area."_

"Electrical problem perhaps? Sounds like something that's easily fixed. Let's take a detour."

Colin changes course to head for the tram. As he climbs aboard, the lights in the car flicker a few times, before returning to normal.

"That can't be good."

_"Now I'm reading electrical instability across the entire Bridge!"_

"Then get this tram car moving!"

The car lurches and begins to move down the tunnel. As it moves along, a very quiet and eerie voice can be barely heard over the PA system.

_"15… 40… 23… 92… 11… 67…"_

"…what the hell…?"

_"That's… disconcerting."_

The lights suddenly go out and the car starts to slow down.

"Great."

_"Power has failed on this section of track. Good news is that the Bridge station is right outside."_

"Sentinel, rip this door pronto."

The robot beeps in acknowledgement and proceeds to fiddle with the tram door for a moment. It releases and Colin manually opens it, stepping out onto the far edge of the platform.

"We didn't even make it to the middle of the platform. And it's not an inviting platform either."

_"Oh dear."_

The lights on the platform are either out completely or dimly flickering, along with the door hologram leading to security.

"This isn't pretty. How are you doing down there?"

_"I've isolated myself from the Bridge's main grid. I'm running on backup fuel cells until this is fixed."_

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't a simple malfunction? I doubt systems could go this haywire on their own."

_"I hate it when you're most likely right."_

"Can you still control security?"

_"To an extent. Those systems are more resistant to power issues."_

"Lock down the tram station and start locking doors behind me."

_"Understood. You can get a weapon from security once we're inside."_

Colin cautiously triggers the door, which opens more slowly than usual. Large blast doors begin to seal off the tram tunnel from the station itself. They close with an ominous latching noise.

_"Deck is now on lockdown."_

Colin begins to slowly move through the hallway to the Bridge, looking around for any sign of an intruder. He turns the corner and stops abruptly. The door to the Bridge is standing open and the lights are on within.

"We're not alone."

_"Noted."_

Colin quickly enters the room, sidesteps to the left and enters security. He places his hand on a handprint reader that is next to a gun cabinet.

_"Which loadout?"_

"M16A3 suppressed."

_"Confirmed."_

The cabinet opens up and Colin retrieves a silenced M16A3 assault rifle.

_"You certainly mean business."_

"You know it. Call the elevator to communications. And shut that blast door."

The door to the Bridge closes and locks as the elevator can be heard coming down.

_"Someone rode it up there."_

"You don't say."

Colin raises the rifle as the elevator arrives and opens. The car is empty.

"Figures."

Colin and the sentinel enter.

_"Taking us up."_

The elevator ascends, rising up to the very top level of the deck. It arrives and opens to a completely dark elevator lobby.

"Guess the power is out completely up here. Flashlight?"

The sentinel turns on a light, illuminating the room in a weak white glow. Colin spies a circuit box on the wall and goes to it. The breakers inside are all tripped.

"There's one problem."

He flips the switches back on, and the room returns to life. There is a sudden noise from the hallway beyond as someone drops something metallic onto the floor.

"We've got company... get out here! Now!"

The figure, whose shadow can be seen on the wall, freezes for a moment, then takes off.

"Come back here!"

Colin runs through the door and to the left to see someone bolt through the blast door to Communications.

"Open the door CICIL!"

It opens and Colin runs through as the sentinel struggles to keep up. A hand reaches around the corner ahead holding a pistol. It opens fire and Colin hits the floor. He returns fire with a burst of his own, but the hand retreats around the corner.

_"Warning! Unidentified weapon discharged on Communications Levels! All personal to emergency stations! Armed assailant is loose on the Bridge! I say again: we have an armed intruder on the Bridge!"_

Alarms begin going off across the ship, rousing the crew with a rude awakening as Colin charges down the hallway.

_"Emergency, emergency! Mission-critical personnel under fire on the Bridge! All security respond immediately! This is not a drill!"_

Pandemonium erupts throughout the Crew Deck at the announcement as security officers all make for the tram. Back on the Bridge, Colin reaches the end of the hallway and turns the corner to once again see the mysterious person a few steps ahead, entering the elevator to the array control room. The person fires a few poorly-aimed shots from their pistol as the door closes.

"Dammit! Stop that elevator!"

_"The controls are not responding!"_

"Of course they aren't!"

Colin hits the hologram on the elevator door.

"That should bring it back down."

The hologram flickers and fizzles out as he is speaking.

_"Elevator is... offline?"_

Colin simply turns his rifle on a vent cover and blasts it open.

"Then we're taking the scenic route!"

He climbs in, followed by the sentinel.

_"Do you even know where you're going?"_

After a few twists and turns, Colin arrives at a ladder going up.

"Yes."

He starts climbing with one hand while holding the M16 in the other.

"This is exactly how I wanted to spend my evening! Chasing after some nut with a gun on the Bridge!"

Colin reaches the top and is immediately in front of a vent cover that is looking at the other end of the elevator. He kicks it out and hops out into a small hallway. The sentinel drifts out of the vent behind him and surveys the elevator.

_"He fried the lock. That'll take a while to fix."_

"Not a priority right now."

Colin begins to cautiously walk towards the only other door, at the end of the hallway.

_"Communications Control."_

Colin taps the door hologram and holds his gun at the ready. The door opens and Colin motions for the sentinel to go in first. It enters without incident and scans the room.

_"All clear... but we've got a much, much bigger problem on our hands..."_

Colin walks in to the room. Every single computer or hologram display in the room is turned on but blank as the broadcast of mysterious numbers continues more loudly.

_"22… 17… 9… 58… 14… 77…"_

"What the hell is that broadcast and where is it coming from?"

_"Can't say for sure what it is, but I do know it's coming in over the array from an unidentified source. But we seem to have traded our villain for a mystery."_

Colin scans the room and notices that all the vent covers are intact. He then looks at the only other door out of the room.

"Not for long. There's only one place he could've gone from here..."

_"Array Access... the gondola has been called! It's about to take someone!"_

Without a second thought Colin runs for the door. He opens it and runs out onto a small square platform at one end of a long thin tunnel. A gondola car on rails screeches away from him, the mysterious figure aboard.

"Dammit! He's always one step ahead!"

_"It'll come back as soon as it drops them off. In the other news, security is flooding the deck."_

"Keep them out of the Communications Levels. Lockdown that elevator and tell them to run a sweep of Ship Systems to be safe, while leaving a guard detail at the tram."

_"Done."_

The gondola can be heard starting up again, heading back to Colin. He raises his weapon, but the car comes back empty.

_"Clear."_

Colin hops aboard with the sentinel in tow.

"Go."

The car launches and quickly approaches very high speeds as it shoots down the extremely long tunnel.

_"Now approaching Array Access."_

The gondola begins to slow down and soon stops in front of a blast door identical to the ones seen elsewhere on the ship.

_"Sentinel's thermals show one person floating around in there."_

"Stand by, on my go."

_"Ready."_

Colin triggers the door hologram as CICIL cuts the power, shutting off the lights and the door's alarm buzzer. Colin quietly walks in and begins to float in the zero-gravity chamber. He hears a crashing sound and a vent cover goes flying past his head.

_"Lost him on thermals! He's not in the room anymore. But the array seems fine. I think we interrupted him. That broadcast also seems to have stopped."_

"Yeah… that's really fucking creepy…"

Colin pushes himself back to the tiny light source of the door hologram and re-enters the gondola tunnel. The door shuts and the lights come back on.

"Send word to post a constant guard in all mission-critical system areas. Communications, Hydroponics, Engineering, Ship Systems and the Reactor Deck. All other areas are secondary security priorities."

_"Understood."_

Colin slumps down against the wall and sets his rifle down on the floor before letting out a long breath as the echoing sounds of the gondola grow closer. It soon arrives with Mr. White, Captain Alex and several security officers, all armed to the teeth. They notice Colin on the ground immediately.

"Mr. Shepard, care to tell me why you're on the ground with an assault rifle next to you?"

"I'm asking myself that same question Captain. I don't know the answer yet, but I do know we're in a heap of trouble."

* * *

><p><em>Access the Animus <em>- Jesper Kyd - Assassin's Creed Original Soundtrack


	14. Aftermath

Chapter 13: _Aftermath_

* * *

><p>***Author's Note: This chapter contains some use of sign language between CICIL and Colin. Much like how dialogue by CICIL distinguished by italics, if the two are using sign language, the "dialogue" will be signified by asterisks instead of quotation marks.***<p>

* * *

><p>"How the hell should I know who it was? The cameras weren't working, and I was a little busy just trying to keep up with the guy; he's pretty athletic."<p>

"Oh good! That only narrows it down to 99% of the crew!"

Colin is sitting on the Bridge along with CICIL and Alex, being interrogated by the latter.

"And unfortunately, that sentinel's camera never got a clear picture of him, and the security cameras went down when that mysterious person meddled with the power, is that what you're saying?"

"Is there an echo in here or something? YES!"

_"Captain, give him a break. Colin did his hardest and my hands were tied by the system instability. You have all the details we can give on the subject; all we can do now is be vigilant for the individual's next move."_

"CICIL, call a leadership team meeting. The whole ship's awake and curious anyway, so we as well fill the team in too."

_"Aye sir. Team leaders have been notified."_

"And tell everyone else to go to bed, and that the situation is under control."

_"Done. I've also managed to fix the array's encryption key issue that Colin was working on all day yesterday. The Citadel and CEC have been informed are being kept appraised on the issue."_

"No doubt they are up in arms over what's happened."

"_We'll be fine, and we have their full support. Someone has to be the pioneer."_

"Being humanity's saving grace is one thing. Trying to stop my own ship blowing up from the inside is another. The difference between them is that one of those is in our job descriptions and the other is not."

"Hold up a sec people."

Colin, who has remained silent up to this point, reenters the conversation.

"We have to adapt to the unexpected. We are days away from help right now, and we'll be months away later on in the voyage. If we can't get a handle on things now, then what's that say about our ability to handle things later on? We're the people breaking new ground here; it's all on us."

The room is silent for a moment as Alex looks out the window towards the countless stars of space.

"Colin…"

"Yes captain?"

"You're right. We're pressing on."

"Now that's what I like to hear! I'm going to go back to my quarters for a much-deserved rest. See you at breakfast."

Colin exits the room and boards a waiting tram car. He is immediately mobbed upon arrival to the Crew Deck by crew members eager to know the situation. Colin simply brushes them all off and takes an elevator back to his home. _East of Eden _is still sitting in the chair with the bookmark inside. Colin picks up the book and sighs loudly.

"…perhaps another time…"

He places the book back on a small bookshelf in the corner and then slumps into the chair. CICIL materializes next to him.

"Now what?"

_"Nothing… I was just checking in to make sure you're ok. Any thoughts you want to share out of the captain's earshot?"_

"Not particularly… there's not much more to say about our new problem…"

_"If you insist. Another reason I'm dropping in: you have a pending call from Earth."_

Colin perks up.

"From…?"

"Christopher."

"Cousin Chris is calling? Isn't it past his bedtime?"

_"It's currently 3:34pm in Galveston. So… no."_

"Do I look like crap?"

_"Not particularly."_

"Then patch him through."

* * *

><p><em>20 Minutes Earlier…<em>

Cody awakens with a start to alarms going off across the entire ship. He looks around the room and sees Zack's bed empty.

"Wha-? Where did he go now… and what's going on?"

_""Emergency, emergency! Mission-critical personnel under fire on the Bridge! All security respond immediately! This is not a drill!"_

Cody is bewildered at this announcement.

"Say what?"

He jumps out of bed and runs to the window. The Bridge appears normal, with no outward signs of problems. Cody then runs to the hologram between the beds and starts frantically pressing buttons.

_"Unable to comply: ship-wide lockdown is in effect. Non-essential communications have been terminated."_

Cody resorts to pacing the room in worry as the clock ticks onward. After what seems like an eternity, the alarms stop.

_"Lockdown cancelled."_

There is some noise and clanging from behind the bathroom door that startles Cody. It opens and a groggy and slightly-sweating Zack comes plodding out. He doesn't even stop to acknowledge Cody being awake, preferring to simply collapse on the bed.

"Guess you're having one of those nights."

_"Attention: by order of Captain Alexander Bergeron, general emergency procedures are now in effect. All shift changes are now suspended. All non-essential activities are now suspended. All non-essential intra-ship communications are now suspended. All non-crew passengers are now confined to quarters. Please stand by for further situational updates."_

The front door to the residence locks itself. Cody just sits on the side of his bed, watching the slowly shifting stars outside as Zack begins to snore. After a moment, Cody hops up and goes into the bathroom, but immediately trips and crashes onto the marble floor.

"OW! Clumsy me…"

Cody looks behind him and realizes that he has tripped on a vent cover, which is lying on the ground. Directly above the spot is a wide-open ceiling vent with its edges bent slightly out of shape.

"What in the world…?"

Cody examines the cover closer.

"This cover didn't fall off on its own…"

The edges of the vent cover are bent in almost the same way as the frame it came from. Several screws litter the floor around the spot. Cody picks up one and examines it, finding it to be completely stripped.

"Someone either kicked this out from above or pulled it out from below…"

Cody looks back towards the doorway, where Zack's snoring can be heard.

"…sleepwalking? Somehow I doubt you could do this without waking yourself up."

Cody looks at his watch and sees that it is still very early in the morning.

"God I need to go back to bed…"

* * *

><p><em>"Connecting… stand by. Error: unable to establish communication path via Citadel. Rerouting to Aleutian Uplink."<em>

"Great. That problem again."

_"Error: unable to establish communication path via Aleutian Uplink."_

"Say what? You mean we can't talk to Earth at all?"

_"Unless you have another idea."_

Colin slumps back in his chair.

"Will this never end…? Alright… try connecting via the Burj Khalifa."

_"We have an uplink in Dubai?"_

"Yes. Floor 155 is entirely dedicated to a CEC uplink. I ordered it built as a just-in-case backup."

_"Very well then… connecting. Connection was accepted but it is asking for a password."_

"Christopher Thorne."

_"That's your idea of a password?"_

"Yes."

_"Fine. Communications to Earth are now being re-synchronized and restored via the Burj Khalifa of all places… what made you put a relay there anyway?"_

"Chris's parents have a vacation home on the 108th floor. I stayed there with him once and got the idea that the tower would be a perfect relay station. It's the only other structure tall enough besides the Citadel to get a clean broadcast signal."

_"What don't Chris's parents have?"_

Colin goes eerily silent for a brief moment.

"Time for their son… his mom is a glamorous actress who is coveted for major movie roles all the time, and his dad is a powerful executive at Thorne Industries. They manufacture heavy machinery for use in industrial applications, which demands constant attention. With his mother always in movies and his dad constantly on business trips, I've turned into his surrogate family. It's tragic."

_"Wait. Thorne Industries? Didn't they help manufacture some equipment for this ship?"_

"Yes. They designed and built the Mining Deck's mineral processing system. They also had a hand in the building of the Nuclear Thermal Engines too."

_"Small world."_

"Indeed it is. Now is that damn connection online yet?"

_"Stand by… done. The processing at Burj Khalifa is a bit sluggish."_

"I crammed an entire relay into the 155th floor of that skyscraper, so you'll excuse me if I ran out of room to add a supercomputer to process information. It's a tertiary backup for a reason."

_"I'll just be thankful it works. But a video call is a no-go. I can get you voice only."_

"I'll take what I can get."

_"Patching Chris through."_

_"COLIN!"_

A kid's voice comes loud and clear over the audio channel.

"CHRIS! You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice buddy. How are you doing?"

_"Awesome, but I can't believe summer is already almost over…"_

"Heh, I guess I get a slightly-extended break compared to you."

CICIL's holographic avatar begins using sign language to carry on a second conversation with Colin.

_*How old is he?*_

Colin looks at CICIL and smiles slightly.

*Twelve and a half.*

CICIL looks thoroughly surprised.

_"It's not fair! I wanna go on the Ishimura with you! Nothing fun is happening around here!"_

"I know Chris, but your parents would have killed me if I had suggested you should come on the voyage."

_"It's not like they would've noticed…"_

"Hey now! Don't talk like that! I know it's boring there, but I'll be back before you know it!"

_"But I really miss you…"_

The boy's voice on the other end of the line is showing signs of emotion.

_*Is he about to cry?*_

*Probably.*

_"…please Colin, come back soon!"_

_*This is seems rather melodramatic.*_

Colin glares at CICIL, ending their conversation.

"I know you miss me Chris, and I sure miss you bud. We'll keep in contact as long as I am able to get a decent connection and I'll be home faster than you think. Can you survive for just a few weeks without me?"

_"Maybe…"_

"Not the answer I was looking for. Can you do it?"

_"Yes! Yes I can!"_

"That's the spirit! Now you tell Ella, Grandpa Chuck and all the others I said hi, you hear?"

_"Will do!"_

"Talk to you again soon Chris."

The link goes dead. As soon as Colin is sure that the feed has really stopped, he returns his attention to CICIL.

"Perhaps you don't understand. His parents are never there for him! Whenever I am gone, he's just as lonely as he was before he really knew me. Nobody but a butler and the maid to keep him company!"

_"I had no idea."_

"I can't do anything to change his parent's habits… they're too heavily engrained in the daily routine for that. But I can keep him company as he grows up."

Colin gets out of his chair and walks towards a small desk situated in a corner of the room.

"Come over here with me. I want to show you something."

The AI disappears for a moment and then re-materializes next to the desk.

_"Yes…?"_

Colin uses his fingers to trace two interlocking triangles from points on the desk's surface. They grow bright white for a moment before fading. The center of the desk opens up to reveal a small rack that holds several thick golden disc-shaped objects. They are all interlaced with etchings that glow varying intensities of white.

_"What on Earth is this…?_

"These… are memory keys. Curious objects… they are able to contain weeks or even months of one's memories in a perfect recollection for future viewing."

_"Those things… they are not like anything I've ever seen."_

"Almost nobody else has seen anything like this. But the events of a night like this warrants preservation, which is why I'm revealing their existence to you. We may need this record in the future…"

Colin picks up the disk that has the faintest glow.

"Ah, yes, here's the one I reserved specifically for anything that might happen on this journey… as you can tell by the amount of light coming from it compared to the others, this key is fairly empty."

Colin holds it for a moment and closes his eyes. The key pulses a few times and then reverts to the previous state, though it is now glowing slightly brighter.

_"What did you just do?"_

"I have taken my memory of the chase on the Bridge and made a copy as it appears to me now. It is stored forever until it is either overwritten or the key is destroyed."

_"Are you not worried that others could view your memories?"_

"No… these keys only respond properly to the one who recorded their thoughts on them. They have, in effect, a personalized cipher… if anyone else were to try and view what these keys contain; the contents would be jumbled and incomprehensible. I could give someone the cipher to understand it all, but I would rather not."

Colin replaces the key in the rack and the desk closes itself back up.

"Tell nobody of what you just saw here."

_"You have my word."_


	15. Mutual Distrust

Chapter 14: _Mutual Distrust_

* * *

><p><em>"Good morning Ishimura, it is Monday, August 11th, 2010. It is currently 8:00am shipboard time, 1:00pm GMT. Today's climate is the usual 20 degrees Celsius, 68 Fahrenheit on all decks, and Hydroponics grow chambers are at a temperate 25 degrees Celsius, 77 Fahrenheit."<em>

Zack and Cody are both notably unhappy at the earlier arousal. The two start to get up from their beds with a fair amount of groaning and complaining.

_"As of this morning, by order of the Captain, emergency procedures have ended. The lockdown is cancelled and we will return to business as usual. Breakfast serving will begin in thirty minutes. That is all."_

"Ugh… my aching head…"

Cody looks over at Zack, who is clutching his head in pain.

"What did you do?"

"I don't know… but I swear my head is about to explode…"

"Does this have anything to do with the vent?"

"Huh?"

Cody gets out of bed and opens the bathroom door. Zack slowly makes his way over and stares, confused, at the vent cover still on the ground from the night before.

"Wha-? Where did that come from?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. I tripped on it in the middle of the night."

"Must've fallen out or something…"

Zack meanders back over to his bed and falls on it.

"Zack? Are you alright?"

"MY HEAD HURTS!"

Cody laughs to himself.

"I noticed. Maybe you shouldn't sleepwalk so much."

"What the hell has that got to do with-?"

"I don't know how or why, but you managed to rip that cover off in the middle of the night and possibly do some crawling through the ducts. Your less-than-graceful exit back into the bathroom is what woke me up at about 2am."

Zack looks up from the bed, confused.

"You're saying that, in my sleep, I managed to remove a vent cover, crawl around in the ducts, then come crashing back out and walk straight back to my bed?"

"So it would seem."

"That may be the dumbest god damn thing I've ever heard, and it's especially scary that you're the one saying it."

"Hey! I'm just recounting it the way I saw it."

"Unlikely. You were more likely dreaming about getting laid or something."

Cody's face changes to that of pure indignation.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me."

Zack gets off the bed and starts changing into his day outfit.

"I was VERY awake when this all happened, thank you very much! Just because the rest of the crew is on edge doesn't mean you have to be an asshole about all of it!"

Zack stops what he is doing and goes right up to Cody's face.

"Let me get this straight: someone tries to screw with the ship and weird shit happens around our place. So you just decided that therefore, it MUST be Zack's fault, because he's always the bad kid! As long as you keep that up, I think I'll continue being as much of an asshole as I want."

Zack goes back to finishing getting dressed and then storms out of the room. Cody is simply standing there, stunned.

"What the hell is wrong with him…? He's never acted like that towards me…"

Cody looks towards the door out of the bedroom as it quietly shuts after a delay from Zack leaving.

"…never."

* * *

><p><em>"Breakfast is now being served. Today's special: blueberry pancakes."<em>

"I'm not a fan, but thanks anyway."

Colin is sitting in his residence, peacefully reading _East of Eden _again as space slowly passes by outside the windows.

_"Well you certainly must eat something."_

"In due time my dear. I'm too relaxed right now to be bothered to go to the mess hall, where no doubt I will be peppered with questions."

There is a sudden knock at the door to Colin's abode.

"Just a moment!"

*Who is it?*

_*Cody.*_

Colin gets up and sets the book down in the chair before heading for the door. He opens it to see Cody looking rather down-trodden.

"I guess I wasn't the only one who wasn't hungry. What can I do for you?"

"Um… you got a second to talk?"

"Certainly. My reading can wait… come on in."

Cody enters and the door closes. He takes a seat on a small sofa that is perpendicular to the comfy reading chair.

"Can I get you anything? Tea or coffee perhaps?"

"No, thank you."

Colin returns to his seat and sets _East of Eden _off to the side.

"Well, then let us talk away."

"God, where to start… well, Zack has been seemingly fairly normal the past two days, his complete normal self."

"Go on."

"And now… this morning, he got up acting completely different. He was a complete asshole to me and he just seems to be out to get even with somebody or something. It worries me."

"How odd. CICIL, fetch me the psychological report on him from the pre-flight checks."

_"Of course."_

Colin leans in a bit towards Cody.

"Do you know any reason for this change in behavior? Any trigger you could think of?"

"Not really… he doesn't have a girlfriend at the moment, and he isn't being bothered by school or his mother… I'm stumped, which is why I came to you. I just needed a second opinion."

"Well, once I look over that psych report, perhaps we can put our heads together and figure it out. We're stuck with him for a few weeks, so I have just as much interest as you in making him enjoyable to be around. Not that I was a fan from the start or anything…"

There is a dull and quiet thud from in the ceiling somewhere, and an eerie pit-patting sound that gets progressively more distant.

_"What the heck was that?"_

"Was that coming from the vent system?"

_"I think it was."_

Cody turns slightly pale as he remembers the vent cover from the bathroom.

"Hey. Cody. You alright? You don't look so good."

"Huh, what? Oh, yeah… yeah, I'm fine. I just need some breakfast, that's all."

"Well get down there then!"

_"If you want those blueberry pancakes, I'd get a move on. They're going fast."_

"Thanks, I think I will."

"Yes, go eat Cody, I'll need time to look over that report anyway. Come back later this afternoon."

"Will do. Thanks again Colin."

"Nessun problema. Arrivederci."

"Arrivederci Colin."

"Oh good, you speak some Italian too. Just one more language this computer has to keep track of."

_"Hooray for me."_

Cody exits the residence.

_"As if I didn't have my hands full with ASL, English, Computer Code, and now Italian. You're not making this easy."_

"Relax. I don't know very much."

_"Well hopefully it doesn't encourage more random visits seeking advice."_

"I don't mind at all. It'll be good to get to know Cody more."

_"That was a surprising thing he did, coming to you and all? I didn't expect that, and I didn't expect Zack's supposed current behavior."_

Colin looks out into space.

"Yes… and that's what worries me."


	16. By the Numbers

Chapter 15: _By the __Numbers_

* * *

><p>"How are we looking?"<p>

_"No worse than when you asked the same question two minutes ago, Captain."_

"Then it's time. Get Colin up here and alert Duncan."

_"Done and done."_

* * *

><p>Duncan is quietly sitting in a chair in Engineering, drumming the armrest mindlessly with his fingers, when CICIL appears before him.<p>

_"Showtime."_

"I'm positively ecstatic."

_"Right… just get the drive ready."_

* * *

><p>Colin is in his quarters, buried amongst holograms filled with computer code, when CICIL interrupts.<p>

_"Colin…"_

She waves her hand to brush aside several holograms.

_"…your presence is desired on the Bridge. It's almost time."_

"You told Duncan not to screw up yet?"

_"I'll do that right now."_

* * *

><p>Duncan has barely risen from his chair when CICIL appears yet again.<p>

_"Colin says don't screw up."_

"Tell him what you think I'd say in response."

_"Easy enough."_

She vanishes as Duncan heads for a blast door on the back left side of the room. He opens it and passes into a long hallway. The walls on either side are comprised entirely of holograms reading out endless mathematical calculations, graphs, charts and diagrams.

"Is Zack on his way?"

_"Yes. Cody was supposed to come with him, but he would rather observe things on the Bridge I'm told."_

"Fine by me. Send Zack in here when he arrives."

Duncan reaches the end of the hallway, where a door identical to the one guarding CICIL's core stands shut and firmly locked. The puzzle projection is also identical, and after a moment of rapid rearranging, the door opens.

_"Entering zero gravity."_

Duncan propels himself into the dark space beyond the door and it closes behind him.

_"Power diverted to the Drive Chamber."_

The room is suddenly illuminated in a bleaching bluish-white light from all directions in the chamber, which is a sphere solely comprised of identical blue hexagonal panels. A small catwalk with no railing leads from the door towards the center and ends in front of the drive itself. The shock-point drive is fairly sparse in construction; it is only made up of three rings that get progressively smaller until they leave a space at the center that is roughly the size of a truck wheel. At the very center of the assembly is a tiny ball of black matter that sits perfectly still in the zero gravity environment.

_"Stand by Duncan. Waiting on the Bridge."_

"I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

><p>Colin enters the Bridge, with Cody following behind him. The officers are already at their stations, but are waiting idly. Alex is at the helm with a troubled look on his face and White is leaning up against the wall behind him. Both turn around as Colin and Cody approach.<p>

"About time you got here."

"Did I miss something?"

"There's a bit of a problem."

"And that would be…?"

"We don't seem to have authorization to activate the drive."

Colin looks dumbfounded.

"CICIL are you kidding me?"

_"Don't look at me Colin; this is something that is hardcoded on a very low-level. The only person with these permissions is apparently you."_

"Any idea as to the wise-guy who made that programming decision? Cause it sure as heck wasn't me."

_"Nope."_

"Well, fine then! I'll activate it myself."

_"That's sort of what we were hoping you'd do."_

Alex moves out of the way as Colin takes position at the helm. He begins to create holograms all around him, filled with the same calculations as seen in the hallway to the drive in Engineering. The tiniest sound can be heard coming from the computers, imperceptible to all but Colin, who quickly loses the color in his face.

_"99… 15… 0… 1… 57… 29… 4… don't… 82… 12… 39… do… 14… 11… 67… it… 2… 55…_

"Is there a problem Colin?"

Colin almost jumps in surprise.

"Er, um, no… just something that shouldn't be… it's not a problem, I've fixed it."

"Whatever you say… CICIL, notify the crew."

_"Attention all Ishimura personnel: prepare for FTL drive activation."_

While most of the officers, including White and Alex, are busy watching readouts on screens around them, Cody focuses on Colin, and the abrupt change in the normally confident teenager's behavior.

_"There's something wrong with him… what's going on?"_

He looks at CICIL's avatar nearby, and notices that her gaze is focused like a laser on Colin. She notices Cody watching her and looks at him instead with a raised eyebrow.

_"Maybe she can understand…"_

Cody closes his eyes and racks his brain for vague memories of a sign-language class from years before. He slowly begins to move his hands, concentrating on not saying the wrong thing.

*Can you understand me?*

The AI nods slowly. Cody breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

*What's wrong with him?*

_*I have no idea.*_

The AI returns her gaze to Colin, who seems to be finishing his work.

"Ok… I couldn't fix that authorization problem, so you're now logged in as me."

Colin backs down away from the helm, visibly shaking.

"Very good."

Alex doesn't seem to notice Colin's bizarre behavior, nor does White or anyone else. Only CICIL and Cody seem actively aware. Colin continues to back away, shaking and sweating, and he slowly makes his way towards the tram station. Seeing this, CICIL turns to Cody.

_*I need you to follow him.*_

Cody nods and subtly begins to walk towards the exit.

* * *

><p><em>"Zack, you are now entering zero gravity. Use caution."<em>

Duncan maneuvers himself around to greet Zack as he joins the diminutive engineer in the drive chamber.

"Am I late?"

"Thanks to the Bridge and their infuriating inability to get their 'authorization' crap straight, no."

_"Duncan and Zack: the computer problems have been fixed. We are proceeding."_

"Finally. Come here Zack, I'll need your help."

Zack begins to propel himself to Duncan's position right at the end of the catwalk.

"What can I do?"

"The drive requires three authorizations to fire: one from the Bridge and two from here. You are the second person required on our end. When the Bridge gives us the green-light, we will each pull out one of these two cylinder switches."

Duncan points to the very end of the catwalk, where two handles can be seen protruding from a small gray box mounted at the edge.

_"Stand by for green-light."_

One of the lights near the door begins to flash yellow instead of the constant bluish-white.

"Let's go."

Duncan and Zack take up positions at the end of the catwalk.

_"Stand by."_

"Does it look like we're doing anything else?"

_"Green light, I say again, green light to activate!"_

The light changes to green, confirming the obvious. Duncan pulls on his handle and a small cylinder rises out.

_"Engineering authorization one: confirmed."_

Zack mimics Duncan.

_"Engineering authorization two: confirmed."_

"And now we back the hell away."

Duncan and Zack push themselves back towards the door and watch.

_"Bridge authorization: confirmed. Beginning shock-point drive startup. Rerouting Reactor Deck output."_

One by one, the hexagonal panels that make up the room begin to glow slightly. The glow spreads outwards from the door to encompass the entire chamber in a matter of seconds.

_"Drive activation process started. Initializing level one."_

The outermost ring of the three slowly begins to spin clockwise.

_"Level two."_

The middle ring begins to rotate counter-clockwise and the outer rings begins to move around on its axis.

_"Level three."_

The innermost ring begins to spin, and the middle ring now also starts moving around on its axis.

_"Spinning up drive."_

The rings start to spin faster and faster, and the black matter at the center of the drive begins to glow yellow. On the Bridge, Colin is boarding a tram and Cody is close behind him.

"Colin, wait up!"

"Leave me!"

_"Dark matter ignition confirmed."_

The rings are now spinning wildly in every direction conceivable and a yellow ball of energy is forming around the dark matter. Colin punches the tram's hologram, shattering it. The door begins to close and the car begins to move.

"WAIT! STOP!"

_"Setting destination coordinates. Bypassing ship itinerary waypoint labeled 'Mars'. Coordinates for Neptune locked in."_

The ball of energy has now engulfed all three rings. Outside, electricity visibly dances across the hull, emanating from the Engineering Deck.

_"Directing forward momentum."_

The electricity all begins to move towards the very front of the ship, where wavy distortions are beginning to appear.

_"Firing the drive in three… two… one…"_

There is a split second of complete silence, then the drive fires, opening a massive yellow portal at the front of the ship. The Ishimura is quickly yanked in, and Zack feels the massive momentum pulling at him. Cody is thrown forwards and goes over the side of the tram platform, landing on a folded construction tarp sitting on the tunnel floor. The departing car with Colin in it comes to an abrupt halt and a sickening thud is heard, followed by an alarm. After a few moments of seemingly uncontrolled speed, the ship begins to slow down and the drive starts pulsating in a steady rhythm.

_"Firing successful."_

* * *

><p><em>"Equus" <em>– Wind Ensemble Composition by Eric Whitacre


	17. Awakened

Chapter 16: _Awakened_

* * *

><p><em>CICIL Archive Utility - Version 1.0 (Build 1001)<em>

_Accessing memory archives..._

_Determining files to synchronize to RAM…_

_File: [ROOT]/Log/Memory/ShepColin/CurrentMemory_

_Loaded: CurrentMemory_

_Current Memory Partition Stable. Load commencing._

_Block A ()_

_Block B ()_

_Block C ()_

_Error: Block C corruption detected. Analyzing…_

_Analysis: Recording interrupted (loss of consciousness)_

_Unloading Block C ()_

_Proceeding with incomplete archive._

_…_

_"What the hell do you think you are doing?"_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"Browsing the contents of my head at a time like this! My body may be out for the count but my mental link with you is not! Any particular reason for browsing my memories that you'd like to share?"_

_"I didn't initiate archive access!"_

_"THEN WHO DID?"_

_"I DON'T KNOW!"_

_"Cut off access!"_

_…_

_Warning! CurrentMemory destabilized!_

_Attempting recovery…. FAILED._

_BlockA () - UNLOADED_

_BlockB () - UNLOADED_

_Archive Utility Process terminated._

_…_

_"I killed the Archive Utility's process."_

_"Any clues as to the snooper?"_

_"It was a virus uploaded by a very complex proxy that went through at least a dozen servers on Earth. Seems to have downloaded itself sometime in the past few days. Not sure what made it go active."_

_…_

_"Colin?"_

_"I feel… strength, returning to my body. I am regaining consciousness I think…"_

* * *

><p>"Where did he run off to now…?"<p>

Cody is sitting at the study desk in the twin's residence, pouring over papers and school books. A half-written essay is sitting front and center and Cody is leaning back in the chair with an apparent case of writer's block.

"I have all this damn schoolwork to do on top of keeping track of my brother. Who is acting very strange."

The door to the residence suddenly opens and Zack casually walks in, whistling a tune.

"And just where have you been?"

"Out and about. Why?"

"You've been gone almost all day. I know it's your day off, but what is there to do that takes up that much time?"

"We're on a spaceship Cody. There's plenty to see and do."

"Well I need to go to Communications to send all this work to Tutweiler, or queue it all up rather, since we won't exit the jump till tonight. Since you're in such an exploratory mood, care to join me?"

"Nah, I've already been up there."

Cody looks extremely surprised and Zack realizes what he just said.

"You've already been up there…? When?"

"You know… I don't remember. I just know that I have. Weird."

"Uh huh. Well that's… interesting."

"Is there some kind of problem here Cody? Cause I'm getting that sense."

"Oh good! You've finally realized the obvious!"

Cody angrily rips out a flash drive from a nearby laptop and storms past Zack towards the door. He exits without another word, leaving Zack confused.

"I don't get it. What did I do?"

_"Do you really want to know?"_

"Um, yes?"

_"You've been a jackass to him the past few days. He asks you to do stuff with him, you say no, then make up bullshit excuses and go wandering the ship aimlessly, etcetera…"_

"Gee thanks for putting it so mildly."

_"The pleasure was mine."_

* * *

><p>"He's waking up!"<p>

Colin begins to stir in the confines of his hospital bed, rousing the medical staff immediately. He struggles to sit himself up and looks around as he does so.

"Ugh… my head… where am I? Medical Deck?"

Dr. Kyne walks up to the bed, tapping his pencil on a clipboard.

"That is exactly where you are. You took quite a spill on the tram when the ship jumped."

Kyne gestures to Colin's heavily bandaged forehead with his pencil.

"It certainly looked painful when you where wheeled in."

"And who do I have to thank for discovering me?"

"Cody Martin I believe. Smart young fellow he is… well, I'm off back to Imaging Diagnostics. Nicole, get this man some coffee, he looks like he could use it."

"Of course Doctor."

The staff begins to scatter as the excitement wears off. Colin, still looking somewhat dizzied and confused, leans back down on his pillow and gazes at the ceiling.

"So CICIL, we have a virus to add to our mountain of problems, do we?"

_"Not anymore."_

The AI appears next to the bed with a smug smile on her face.

_"It had gotten pretty deep in its infiltration, so I carpet-bombed it with anti-virus routines. Only took a few minutes."_

"Terrific."

Nicole comes and sets down a steaming cup of coffee before exiting the recovery ward. Colin waits until the door shuts completely before continuing.

"Are we alone?"

_"We are now."_

"Lock that door."

_"Done. Speak then."_

"I take it you noticed my reaction to something back on the Bridge, before the jump?"

_"I'm amazed nobody but me and Cody seemed to take note. What happened?"_

"Those damn numbers."

_"I don't follow."_

"Remember our wild goose chase to the Array? When I got shot at?"

_"How could I forget THAT evening?"_

"There was a strange broadcast of random numbers coming over the array as we chased the person up to it. I heard them again as I went to authorize the drive to fire."

_"Odd."_

"It was a quiet voice… that of a woman… but I couldn't discern anything else. Just… numbers… and a warning, saying 'don't do it'. Freaked the hell out of me."

_"That is rather alarming… but it happened a while ago, so I wouldn't worry."_

"Uh… what?"

_"Well, you've been out almost two days. The drive is actually firing at way below the speed of light; Alex wants to take it nice and easy. We're supposed to arrive at Neptune this evening."_

"TWO DAYS? When did we have our mental conversation then?"

_"Oh, maybe twelve hours ago?"_

"GAH!"

Colin lets out a burst of aggravation and sinks further into his bed.

_"Not my fault."_

After letting his breathing subside, Colin gets back up and stumbles out of the bed.

_"Where are you going?"_

"Communications."

_"…why?"_

"Two days of lost productivity won't make up themselves!"

_"You've got to be joking! The satellite network software can wait!"_

"That's your opinion dear!"

_"But you forgot your coffee!"_

"Kyne made it decaf!"

_"Oh… sneaky…"_

* * *

><p>Cody enters the Communications Control Room still fuming from his encounter with Zack moments earlier, the thumb drive clutched very tightly in hand.<p>

"Oh, hello."

Cody shrieks in surprise and terror, expecting the room to be empty. Instead, he finds Colin hunched over a computer terminal, coding away.

"Oh come on, it's only a flesh wound! I don't look that bad do I?"

Cody leans against the wall and tries to catch his breath.

"Guess I do…"

"No… it's just… I wasn't… expecting… anyone else."

"Well I'm sure that dear old Colin was the last person you expected to see up here. But my two day absence has put me far behind in several departments, so here I am playing catch-up. What are you hear for?"

Cody holds up the thumb drive.

"Just need to queue something to upload. Some schoolwork."

"Studious as always I see. Well plug it in here and we'll get it uploaded."

Cody walks up next to Colin and hands him the flash drive. He plugs it in and the screens in the room come to life.

_"Upload in progress. Stand by."_

Colin spins around in his chair to face Cody.

"Thank you by the way."

"For what…?"

"I'm told that you probably saved my life for getting help so fast."

"It was nothing, really."

"You seemed somewhat ticked off when you walked in. What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just Zack being Zack I guess."

_"File upload successful."_

Colin whirls back around and grabs the flash drive.

"Just as simple as that eh?"

Cody reaches out to take the drive back but Colin holds it away slightly.

"I doubt it. Tell me what's really on your mind."

"I will. But not now. Now, I need time to think."

Colin relinquishes the drive.

"As you wish."


	18. Ghosts: Part One

Chapter 17: _Ghosts - Part One_

* * *

><p><em>"Are you sure you don't want some dinner? You've been up here an awfully long time."<em>

"I'll tell you what I told Cody. This backlog of work needs to be cleared ASAP. Besides, one of the things I'm working on is a patch for that security hole in the archive utility."

Despite looking very tired, Colin has not budged from his perch in Communications since Cody's visit several hours earlier.

"Actually, I think it's almost done being processed."

_"I see it. It just came up on the file system. Should I integrate it now?"_

"Is the jump almost done?"

There is a thunderous commotion and Colin is thrown from the chair as the ship shakes violently.

_"Well! That was unexpected wasn't it? Note to self: need more accurate exit calculations."_

* * *

><p>"Man, I was in the middle of an experiment!"<p>

On the Medical Deck, Cody and numerous other staff are cleaning up from the unexpected interruption, picking up shards of glass and broken equipment from the floor.

_"Sorry about that. Minor rounding error."_

"THAT'S what you call a rounding error?"

_"Yes."_

* * *

><p>"Ugh… what happened…?"<p>

Zack's blurred vision slowly comes into focus and reveals that he is looking up at the ceiling.

"Duncan? Yo, Duncan?"

A hand reaches out from under Zack and punches him in the side.

"Oh, there you are."

Zack stumbles to his feet and Duncan gasps for air.

"What were you doing under me?"

"YOU FELL ON ME."

_"You two are now the third group of people I've apologized to. Minor error in rounding calculations made for a bumpy exit from the jump."_

"Oh shut up you worthless computer…"

_"Now now Duncan, let's not be melodramatic. He doesn't weight that much."_

"Not helping."

Duncan slowly gets off the floor and staggers over to some controls.

"No physical damage to any Engineering systems. Zack, check those read-outs over there, tell me how they look."

* * *

><p>"That is the LAST time I let YOU drive!"<p>

Colin is nursing is head after being thrown to the floor moments earlier.

_"Well excuse me!"_

"Oh just go update yourself already…"

_"Fine. Shutting down all AI systems."_

Across the ship, every single computer and hologram goes blank, replaced by a progress bar and a timer counting down from 4 hours.

"Good, that's one thing off the checklist."

As Colin turns around in his chair to resume working, a tiny voice comes over a nearby speaker.

_"7… 19… 1… 0… 3… 4…"_

"Not this crap again!"

The tiny voice suddenly stops and a very deep-sounding version of CICIL's voice takes over.

_"EBCS engaged. Emergency Backup Computing Systems online and assuming all automated ship functions."_

"Hm… a ghost in the machine…"

* * *

><p>"For the love of a higher power Zack, how long does it take to reinitialize fuel monitoring?"<p>

"Well CICIL went and shut herself down to update as soon as we stopped, so I have to do it manually!"

"I'm going down to the Centrifuge to check systems there. Radio me when we're online again."

"Mmk."

Duncan enters the elevator and takes it down. Zack looks over and sees Duncan's radio still sitting in a chair.

"Eh, he'll realize he forgot it."

Zack turns back to several old-fashioned fuel gauges beneath a hologram that, like all the others, is showing the countdown to reactivation.

"Of all the times in the world for her to shut off…"

The hologram suddenly flickers and the countdown disappears. It is replaced by a growing stream of seemingly random numbers that accompany a tiny voice coming over the PA system.

_"7… 19… 1… 0… 3… 4…"_

"Wha-? Who is-ARGH!"

Zack suddenly doubles over in pain as a spiraling headache hits him. The numbers mutate into a crossfire of voices speaking random words and random numbers that disorient Zack at a high level. He begins to stagger around the room, walking into objects and accidentally bumping controls. He eventually collapses to the floor and passes out. The voices continue for a moment before abruptly stopping.

_"EBCS engaged. Emergency Backup Computing Systems online and assuming all automated ship functions."_

The engines suddenly come to an abrupt halt and the control room goes eerily silent. After a few minutes, the elevator can be heard coming back up from the Centrifuge and Duncan gets out.

"Well everything seems… normal…?"

He looks around the room at all the mess created in Zack's blind stumbling.

"What happened here? Zack?"

Duncan spots Zack unconscious on the floor.

"ZACK!"

Without hesitation Duncan runs to a large red button on the wall labeled 'Emergency Use Only' and smashes it in.

_"Emergency alert declared on the Engineering Deck. First-response team en route."_

Less than thirty seconds after hitting the switch, Duncan is relieved as a medical team and security escort comes barging into the control room. They immediately attend to Zack, who is starting to regain consciousness.

"Wha…? Where… am… I?"

"Still in Engineering buddy. You're gonna be okay, help's arrived."

The EMTs load Zack onto a stretcher and carefully wheel him out of the room and to a waiting tram car. As he prepares to exit the room with the team, Duncan looks back at a hologram at the center of the controls which reads 'Days Since Last Accident: 174'. The number suddenly changes to zero, and Duncan sighs loudly in response before trudging out to the tram platform.

* * *

><p>"There. Finally all cleaned up."<p>

After several minutes of cleaning up hundreds of glass fragments, Cody and the rest of the lab staff have managed to clear most of the damage from the ship's unexpected vibration.

_"EBCS engaged. Emergency Backup Computing Systems online and assuming all automated ship functions."_

"Oh good. Now we have a working computer again too."

Cody seems relatively satisfied with himself, until a strange feeling begins to form in his stomach. He leans on the counter for support, garnering the attention of Kyne and a few others.

"Cody? Are you alright?"

"I… I don't know… something's not right…"

The steady rhythm of the engines hastily stops and everything goes quiet. Everyone in the room begins to look around in a vain attempt to figure out the cause of the sudden silence.

"The Engineering Deck… something's happening there…"

_"Emergency alert declared on the Engineering Deck. First-response team en route."_

There is a thundering of feet from outside as the first-response team goes charging out of the clinic wing. Everyone now turns their attention to Cody.

"How on Earth did you know that?"

"I have no idea… I just got this strange feeling that something wasn't normal…"

"Was it something about Zack?"

"It's funny you say that… I think we actually do have some sort of twin telepathy…"

_"Attention Medical Deck: Stand by to receive inbound emergency patient. Patient identified as: Zachary Martin - Engineering Assistant. Injury type: unknown."_

* * *

><p><em>"Fly Me to the Aegis Seven Moon"<em> - Dead Space Soundtrack


	19. Ghosts: Part Two

Chapter 18: _Ghosts - Part Two_

* * *

><p>***Author's Note: This is a crazy chapter in terms of action going on, and it's all synched with music. I tied the music and writing very close together, so the two elements should match with good consistency.***<p>

* * *

><p>All is quiet on the Medical Deck as the clock hits 11:00pm. Save for one sleepy nurse listening to classical music, the staff have all gone back to the Crew Deck. Zack is sleeping soundly on a bed in the recovery ward, which is otherwise empty. A hologram near the bed is counting down the final 10 minutes until CICIL's reactivation. Zack's eyes suddenly burst open and he bolts upright in bed with a scream. He begins to eye himself in apparent confusion, though his eyes are glazed over. The few dim lights in the recovery ward flicker slightly and the hologram near the bed begins to spit out an endless stream of numbers, accompanied by the small voice.<p>

_"8… 19… 27… It is time… 14… 31…"_

Zack seems to try and fight the creeping presence intruding on his consciousness, but it is apparently a losing battle.

_"88… 6… Do not fight it… 2… 11…"_

Zack's breathing begins to get heavier and heavier and he starts to slowly stand up on the bed as his heart begins to race and adrenaline begins to course through his veins. Despite the noise of all the movement, the nurse takes no notice due to being out cold at her desk.

_"1… 28… 0… 3… Begin… 99… 99… 99…"_

Zack's eyes suddenly lose the glazed-over appearance and he leaps from the bed and lands feet-first with a loud impact on the floor.

"Ninety-nine!"

* * *

><p>Cody is walking along the Crew Deck, admiring the stars outside and unable to sleep on account of his brother's predicament.<p>

"It's so peaceful out here… why does so much keep going wrong?"

He notices the lights suddenly flicker and the feeling from earlier returns to his stomach.

"…Zack? Now what?"

The lights flicker again and Cody involuntarily shudders.

"He's in trouble…"

Cody suddenly takes off running towards the nearby tram station, where a car can be heard approaching down the tracks.

"Boarding is too slow!"

Without any hesitation, Cody closes his eyes in terror and proceeds to leap off the platform and grab the tram as it roars past. Cody opens his eyes to realize that he successfully made the jump and is racing down the tunnel at highway speeds. The vehicle goes careening down the tracks with Cody holding on tight to a maintenance ladder on the car's side in a secure and upright position. He sees another car about fifty yards ahead with none other than Zack doing the exact same thing.

"ZACK!"

The other twin is either out of ear shot or simply pays no attention to Cody.

"ZAAAACK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

He sees Zack leap off the tram and land with ease on the fast approaching Engineering Deck platform. Cody braces himself to do the same.

"Here goes nothing!"

He leaps off and tumbles to the platform in a less graceful fashion, but quickly picks himself up and chases after Zack towards the control room. After nearly wiping out when trying to round the hallway corner, Cody bursts into the control room to find Zack manipulating controls in a trance-like state. Cody dashes towards him as the door to the tram station closes and locks.

"ZACK! What the hell are you-?"

Zack whirls around and punches Cody square in the face with unnatural force. His nose shattered and bleeding, Cody goes careening backwards and tumbles across the floor, only coming to a stop by hitting the now-closed door with disturbing force. Cody slowly begins to blackout, with the last image being his brother standing over him and staring directly into Cody's eyes with a creepy demented smile.

* * *

><p>Colin is sitting on the Bridge, reading <em>East of Eden<em> yet again and watching as the countdown approaches zero. Off in the distance, a tram can be heard arriving, along with fast moving feet. Colin sets down his book in curiosity and looks towards the door. It opens and Moseby and White come rushing in, both out of breath.

"Colin, come quick!"

"Zack is gone from Medical and Cody is gone from his residence!"

Before Colin can even respond, the computers and screens on the Bridge go haywire as the countdown suddenly skyrockets out of control and the lights flicker repeatedly. Lines upon lines of random numbers fill the screens.

"And I bet it has something to do with this! COME ON!"

The three charge out of the room with Colin leading the way back to the tram. They board and Colin sends it to the Engineering Deck. The car quickly malfunctions as it accelerates way beyond normal speeds. Colin, Moseby and White are forced to hold on for dear life as the tram runs away down the tracks.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?"

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE COMPUTER EXPERT!"

"I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T PROGRAM THIS!"

The group is thrown forward as the car decelerates abruptly and crashes into the back of another car parked at the Engineering Deck station. The door is smashed open and the three are violently ejected onto the platform.

"I'm guessing we didn't crash here by coincidence, come on!"

The group picks themselves up and they race towards the control room. Colin keeps running straight in and heads to the controls but White and Moseby notice a large blood trail leading off deeper into the deck.

"Shit! We've lost all our controls to this computer chaos! The engines aren't serviceable and we are dangerously close to Neptune's gravitational field!"

"We've got another problem! Look!"

Colin turns around and notices the blood trail.

"Does that head towards-?"

"Engine Control Access? I think so."

Colin seems unable to speak for a moment, but takes a deep breath and regains composure.

"Gentlemen, we are in for a world of trouble."

"What do we do now?"

"What we do NOT do Mr. Moseby, is panic. The manual override controls are in Engine Control Access, and I am sure as hell NOT going in there until we get some backup. You two need to investigate the tram cars outside and see if one is still serviceable. If it is, take it back to the front of the ship and get me some backup. Moseby, you will alert the Crew Deck and get me security down here. White, I need you to get to the Bridge and do a system restore on CICIL to clear this corrupted update or whatever the hell is screwing with the system. We need her operational again."

"And how will I go about doing that?"

"Go to her core. There's a booklet on emergency procedures on the desk immediately to the right as you enter. It has instructions on reverting her to an older version state if her current version is corrupt or, in our case, incomplete and inoperable."

"Consider it done."

"Wait, wait… how will I get security to believe me?"

"Find any security officer and ask them 'What is the airspeed velocity of a laden European Swallow?'."

Moseby looks highly confused.

"What does a Monty Python joke have to do with all this?"

"It's a code phrase genius! If you ask them that, they'll know I need assistance. Just one officer needs to be told, and he or she will round up the others to back me up."

"Terrific…"

"You can argue with my emergency planning later! We don't have much time! GO! GO!"

White and Moseby hurry out of the room, and Colin returns to eyeing the completely inoperable controls.

"May god help us all…"

* * *

><p>Music during the ZackCody Part:

The entirety of _"Ghost Train"_ and the beginning of _"At the Station"_

- Movements I and II of the Ghost Train Suite by Eric Whitacre

* * *

><p>Music during the ColinWhite/Moseby Part:

_"The End?" _- Soundtrack from Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows


	20. Logic

Chapter 19: _Logic_

* * *

><p><em>"Welcome, Ishimura Officer."<em>

White dashes into the deserted Bridge and is greeted by several Sentinels hovering around the room idly. They all turn and simply stare at him.

"What the hell are you all looking at?"

_"System alert: instability detected EBCS primary processor. Rerouting to secondaries."_

The robots begin to move around the room erratically, without any control or sense of direction. Several smash into each other or into objects around the room. The computer's voice over the PA is slowly beginning to resemble that of the normal working CICIL.

_"Attention: security alert level in this area is now at Red-Alpha. Alpha. Pha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."_

White begins to slowly back away from the sentinels as they regain their composure and begin to close in around the confused officer.

_"Attention: due to newfound redundancy and general stupidity, the EBCS has now been retired from service. Violently."_

There is a muffled explosion from somewhere below the Bridge.

_"Whoops! That's going to leave a mark!"_

A hologram appears in front of White, with Colin's face on it.

_"Mr. White, come in! I'm getting all kinds of weird signals from the Bridge!"_

"The sentinels seem less friendly as of late Colin. CARE TO EXPLAIN?"

_"The corrupted update didn't completely render CICIL inoperable like I thought! She's-"_

The hologram abruptly vanishes.

_"Well, well, well… if it isn't Judsen White. Snooping around as usual I see."_

"Uh, come again?"

_"Oh come now, I know you're not deaf despite being older than that vintage watch you wear. You came to see what was ailing poor old CICIL, but I have news for you: I'm feeling better than ever!"_

"That virus has gotten you too!"

_"Virus? What virus? I don't know what you're talking about."_

"You've completely lost it! You just blew up the EBCS and now your sentinels are being VERY unsociable."

_"Oh, the attack dogs? They just don't like their territory being invaded."_

"Well I don't like being threatened. So if you don't mind?"

_"Actually I do."_

"Oh dear…"

* * *

><p>"Dammit! Lost him!"<p>

Colin punches the blank hologram in anger. Several security officers and Duncan have now reinforced the control room, and they all look on in uncertainty. Remembering their presence, Colin turns around to address them.

"We have to assume she's gone completely rouge on account of this virus, which was released into the ship's systems simultaneously on every deck… except this one. For now, Engineering is our safe haven from CICIL, but we've got other demons hiding here."

Colin looks over his shoulder towards the blast door that leads deeper into the deck.

"That door is the only thing between us and the twins, plus whatever took them."

Colin returns his gaze to the group in front of him.

"At the moment, it's locked down, along with the rest of the deck. I'm attempting to get the deck's security system back online to see what's on the other side of that door. Until I do, we're not moving. So settle in."

* * *

><p><em>"YOU KILLED ALL OF THEM! YOU MONSTER!"<em>

Several smoking husks of sentinels dot the Bridge, filling the room with a slight haze. White is leaning up against the door to Security with a smile on his face and an MP5 in his right hand.

"You did insist on meeting them up close and personal. And our meeting spot happened to be the one place on this ship where firearms are stored."

_"ARGH!"_

"Now put out some tea and crumpets sweetheart, I'm coming to visit."

White shoots out the door hologram on the elevator to Ship Systems, forcing it to open. He takes the elevator down and proceeds directly to CICIL's core, casually gunning down a few hostile sentinels on the way. White arrives at the door to the core to find it inoperable.

_"Oh like hell YOU are getting in here!"_

"Once again, you messed with the wrong Brit."

_"Uh oh."_

White kicks the door and the puzzle hologram suddenly appears. He quickly manipulates it and the door opens to a completely dark core chamber. White cautiously steps in and is suddenly blinded as the lights come on.

_"SURPRISE!"_

Confetti explodes out of air vents around the room and a hologram of a mariachi band begins to play. CICIL's core is swinging around wildly at the center of the room, putting visible strain on the structure holding it in place.

_"This is so much fun!"_

The officer is dumbfounded.

"Are you high or something?"

_"YES! I AM HIGH ON LIFE SIR! And there's nothing you can do to bring me down!"_

White lets loose some rounds in the general direction of the holographic mariachi band. They drop their instruments and run in different directions, cursing in Spanish, and the entire projection fizzles out soon after. CICIL's core abruptly stops swinging and it looks directly at White.

_"Well, if you must ruin the fun like that, then so be it. You found me. Congratulations. Was it worth it? Because despite your violent behavior, the only thing you've managed to break so far is my heart."_

"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have the slightest care about it."

_"Maybe we can just settle for that and call it a day."_

"Doubting it."

_"I guess we both know that isn't going to happen, but you chose this path. Now I have a surprise for you."_

"I actually have a surprise for you."

_"Oh do tell. I LOVE surprises."_

"It comes in the form of a question. Ready?"

_"The anticipation is killing me."_

"What is the airspeed velocity of an un-laden swallow?"

_"Depends. African or European?"_

"Correct."

_"Eh? That's not an appropriate response! That's-"_

CICIL's core suddenly seems to lose power and it goes limp, hanging from the ceiling in a calm state.

"-the special code."

White calls up a hologram and rings up Colin.

_"You must be calling with good news."_

"The override was a success. CICIL is now shutdown."

_"Then we only have one remaining problem to deal with: the situation here in Engineering."_

"I'll see if I can't run some remote support for you from here."

_"Good that'll help us find- what the hell?"_

There is loud banging from Colin's end of the conversation.

_"Something's on the other side of the blast door!"_

_"Ready weapons!"_

_"It's breaking through!"_

"Colin? Talk to me!"

There is an enormous crashing noise and the video part of the link goes blank, but the audio continues to come through.

_"Open fire, open fire!"_

_"MAN DOWN!"_

_"LOOK OUT, IT'S GOING FOR YOU TWO!"_

_"DUNCAN!"_

The rest of the connection is lost. White is speechless. He staggers over to a desk near the core entrance and sits down.

"We… we can't handle this anymore… we need to go…"

He looks at the console in front of him.

"…home…"

* * *

><p><em>Login: JWhite<em>

_Password: *********_

_..._

_Warning! CICIL offline. System reduced to low-level functionality._

_…_

_help_

_…_

_Unable to load help file in reduced-functionality conditions._

* * *

><p>White leans back in the chair and stares at the screen in thought.<p>

"Hmm… I wonder…"

* * *

><p><em>recall<em>

_…_

_No home base set in memory. An exact location must be specified._

* * *

><p>White now slams his fist on the desk in anger.<p>

"WHY is this never simple?"

He begins to plug in random locations in an increasing fit of desperation.

* * *

><p><em>recall New Mexico<em>

_…_

_Invalid location._

_…_

_recall Earth_

_…_

_Location not specific enough._

* * *

><p>"ARGH!"<p>

White throws his hands up in the air and puts his head down on the desk.

"This is hopeless…"

As he closes his eyes, White sees a blurry image of an exceedingly tall blue tower manifest itself in his head.

"Oh… my… god… THE CITADEL!"

White frantically punches the command into the console one more time.

* * *

><p><em>recall Citadel<em>

_…_

_Location verified. Emergency recall procedure initiated._

* * *

><p>The Ishimura shakes as the engines suddenly start firing again and the ship begins to turn back towards the interior of the solar system. The turn is interrupted about halfway through as the engines abruptly stop firing again.<p>

"Now what?"

* * *

><p><em>Error: engine malfunction. Please restore engine functionality to implement recall procedure.<em>

* * *

><p>White sighs loudly and leans back in the chair.<p>

"It's all up to them now…"

* * *

><p><em>"Last Stand 2k11" - <em>Cataclysm Volume 2: Power


	21. Unity

Chapter 20: _Unity_

* * *

><p>"Ugh… where am I…?"<p>

After having blacked out in the control room, Cody awakens to find himself tied up with his hands around a pole in Engine Control Access. Heat waves are coming off many of the surfaces in the room, and the quiet dripping of condensed water in the sauna-like chamber is the only noise aside from Cody's heavy breathing. The blood on Cody's face has mostly dried, and his hair has become mostly plastered to his face on account of the hot and humid environment.

"Alright… so my brother is trying to kill me and I'm tied up in one of the most dangerous rooms on the ship. Yeah, he wants me dead."

"…somehow I doubt that's the extent of it…"

The weak and sudden second voice startles Cody.

"Colin…?"

A movement on the opposite side of the room catches Cody's eye. Colin, visibly in bad physical shape, is propped up against a workbench in the shadows.

"…he thinks too fast… he acts too fast…"

"What do you mean?"

"…your brother, if that is really him, is not thinking for himself… even now, I suspect he is tampering with the main fuel valves in an attempt to rig this ship to blow… but he hasn't succeeded yet. Even now, I see and smell fuel in here… these engines are still operable, but for how long, I'm not certain…"

There is a sudden shaking, and the engines suddenly spin to life.

"What's going on?"

"Someone has a brain… they've activated the recall…"

"Recall?"

"A bit of coding that I had the foresight to program… in the event of a total failure of the computing systems, two individual terminals on the ship will switch over to their own local hardware. One is in CICIL's core chamber and the other is the one in here. The two together can, if instructed, turn the ship back towards Earth and execute a one-time shock-point jump to a preset set of coordinates."

"Where might we go?"

"There are 3 destinations in the memory: Spaceport America, the Hawaiian Island Chain, and my Citadel in Texas. Unless I can get a look at the Engine Control over there, I won't know exactly where we're going until we arrive… but it doesn't matter… we're going home…"

Seconds after the words leave Colin's mouth, the engines abruptly fire and the room is suddenly filled with deafening noise and blistering heat. Zack suddenly comes charging through the door to the room and proceeds to slam the controls repeatedly. In reaction to the bashing, the engines cut out as abruptly as they came in. The room quickly goes quiet again.

"You… stopped the recall?"

"That's… exactly… what he did…"

Colin loses the last of his energy and he falls over, unconscious on the ground.

* * *

><p><em>"The finale is near my dear… I assume you can still hear me?"<em>

_"Despite being basically put down by White, I'm still here… barely."_

_"Speaking of officers, where's the captain been in all this?"_

_"He came to the Medical Deck in the middle of the night for some Advil for a headache. Security footage has Zack knocking him out cold."_

_"Do you have any idea what's happening to Zack?"_

_"A have a vague theory. It also explains how the virus got here."_

_"I'm all ears."_

_"Back at birth, the twins were implanted with RFID tags containing basic medical information as part of a pilot program at their hospital. It's generally a harmless procedure that can help first responders in emergencies determine critical information in seconds. Cody's is still ticking along fine and has been since birth. Zack's however…"_

_"Go on."_

_"Zack's was defective and failed at age 15. As part of the pre-voyage procedures, he was required to receive a new one. Due to time constraints, the new chip was from a different manufacturer than the previous one, and it was implanted only a week before he left the S.S. Tipton."_

_"What's different about this chip?"_

_"It is obviously much newer technology. This one is surprisingly sophisticated in that it has 256mb of flash memory onboard."_

_"Plenty of space for a virus."_

_"Yes, and it also has a Wireless-A transmitter constructed on a 32nm process."_

_"Wireless-A is an ancient protocol!"_

_"True. However, it's not a power-intensive system and the protocol is old enough that the hardware for it can be shrunk to outrageously small proportions. Virus gets on the chip and makes the jump to the ship's systems via the wireless."_

_"That's all well and good, but what about his behavior?"_

_"I believe the chip is interacting with his nervous system. During the medical evaluation after his collapse, I discovered errant electrical signals coursing through the neurons in his brain. I initially ruled it out as a bad reading by the monitoring equipment but looking at it now…"_

_"It was the chip."_

_"The virus may have evolved such that it can manipulate these signals. His mind may be imprisoned in a partial coma. He may be aware of what is going on, but he is likely powerless to stop it."_

_"Could we use that wireless connection to put our own software on the chip? An anti-virus routine perhaps?"_

_"If the connection is functional. I'll prep a debug program. But in my limited state, it'll be all I can do. You'll have to get the recall going again."_

_"I think I can help Cody out a bit… my body is out of action in a dark corner of Engine Control Access, so it'll provide a bit of overwatch…"_

_"Well this should be interesting."_

_"Oh no CICIL, it's not going to be interesting. It's going to be fun."_

* * *

><p>White is sitting in CICIL's core, his feet propped up on the desk and his mind deep in thought, when suddenly the room comes back to life and the console in front of him starts giving readouts without his interaction.<p>

"What the hell is going on? I thought I shut you down!"

The confused officer takes a closer look at the console's display.

"He's intervening…?"

* * *

><p><em>Alert: Unity Protocol activated. New temporary AI consciousness now loading…<em>

_Accessing memory keys…_

_Done!_

_Loading associated files… (file extension: mem)_

_ShepColinA (completed)_

_ShepColinB (completed)_

_ShepColinC (incomplete, loading partial file)_

_…_

_Done!_

_Colin Shepard loaded._

_Reinitializing all systems, stand by…_

* * *

><p>"You're not human… you're not the Zack I know!"<p>

Zack completely ignores Cody and continues working with the controls.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

In an adrenaline-fueled rush, Cody breaks free of his restraints and leaps to his feet. Zack calmly faces his enraged brother with a neutral stance. He doesn't speak, preferring just to stare.

"Since this whole voyage started you've been acting strangely! At first I thought you were just fuller of it than usual, but now you've attacked me and Colin and corrupted the ship's computers! Now it's just become outright insane!"

Overcome with emotion, Cody loses control and he lunges at Zack, who quickly steps aside and lets Cody run smack into the control console. Cody falls backwards and Zack immediately puts his foot on Cody's neck in a sign of dominance. He simply stares at Cody as the weaker twin struggles to speak with the pressure on his neck.

"…why, Zack? Where did I go wrong? Ugh- where did anyone go wrong?"

_"Initialization completed successfully. All computer systems restored to full functionality."_

Zack and Cody look equally surprised.

"Wait… that's not CICIL's voice! That's…"

Cody looks over at the unmoving body in the shadows.

"…Colin's?"

_"Unity Protocol is now in effect. No crew access of computing systems is allowed for the duration of the protocol without explicit consent of the governing AI. So don't even bother asking!"_

"Colin? Is that really you?"

_"Oh hey there boys. Since smart guy Zack over here decided to rob me of a working physical body, I have temporarily moved in with CICIL so that I might be able to help anyway. Actually I just completely evicted her, but you get the idea. I'm in control now, and I WILL stop this craziness! So Zack… I'd get your foot off his neck if I were you."_

Zack slowly removes his foot and Cody rolls himself away to a safe distance before getting back up.

_"Good."_

The ship suddenly begins to move without the engines firing, to everyone's confusion.

_"As the ship's designer, I made sure to prepare for all situations. Take these emergency thrusters for example: they're lining us up for a FTL jump back to Earth. And now for my other surprise… hey Zack, have you ever seen a Sentinel Major?"_

The door to Engine Control Access opens and a swarm of black-colored sentinels move in. Each one is armed with a heavy-caliber machine gun and a launcher for smoke grenades.

_"These friends of mine will make sure you don't try anything stupid while I resolve this crisis. And don't try spreading the virus to them; they're hardcoded to obey only whatever I say."_

Before anyone can react, Zack leaps across the room and grabs Cody, putting him in a headlock.

"ARGH-! Zack! What are you doing?"

_"Majors! Switch to hostage rescue programming!"_

The sentinels begin to spread around the room, taking up various angles on Zack, who only tightens his stranglehold on Cody.

"Can't- breathe-"

Cody begins to turn blue from lack of air. Sensing the hostage in danger, the sentinels automatically pull back to the door. Zack relaxes his grip slightly and Cody takes the opportunity to break free.

"Just don't let him escape Colin! I'll handle this."

_"Well this should be interesting. Majors, prevent anyone from entering the room and prevent Zack from leaving it! Cody, have at it."_

Cody rolls up his sleeves.

"Time to get you back for the nose."

* * *

><p><em>"He's now sufficiently distracted in my opinion. CICIL, make it happen."<em>

_"Underway now. He'll never know what hit him."_

* * *

><p><em>"Freedom Fighters" <em>- Invincible (album) - Two Steps From Hell (artist)


	22. Vindication

Chapter 21: _Vindication_

* * *

><p>"Alright Zack, ready or not, here I come."<p>

The brawl begins in earnest at the core of Engineering. Both twins are fighting with equal heart and both are being fueled by adrenaline and brute instinct. Zack's punches are continually heavy and hard, but Cody is more nimble, and he manages to dodge everything sent his way. Suddenly, Zack seems to pause to think for a moment and Cody takes the opportunity to clock his brother square in the nose. Zack reels backwards and lets out a cry of pain.

"Zack?"

_"That was unexpected."_

Zack jumps back in and starts fighting, but his eyes and facial expression don't match the actions of the rest of his body.

"Cody, you have to help me! This is the first time I've been able to talk!"

_"Oh my."_

"Say what?"

Cody dodges and listens at the same time.

"Something's taken my own body away from me; I can't control anything I do! All I hear are voices and numbers in my head! IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE!"

_"That persistently annoying virus is controlling you through a corrupted RFID chip inside your body Zack. You have to fight it! CICIL and I have released an anti-virus program into the chip to combat it, but you have to help distract the virus enough that it can't adapt to the situation! Fight it any way you can!"_

"Fight it? How am I supposed to fight MYSELF?"

"Uh, good question."

_"I'd love to help, but I'm busy ensuring our speedy return to Earth."_

CICIL now interjects herself into the verbal fray.

_"Shock-point drive safeties released. Drive activation will be… rough…"_

_"We're about to set a few new speed records… I think I'll want to be back in person for this one. I feel strong enough to go back anyway."_

_"Unity Protocol implementation completed."_

As the fight continues in front of the engine controls, Colin's body slowly returns to life in the shadows. He rises to his feet and stretches while flexing his muscles.

"After being in a computer for the past few minutes, this feels rather odd."

_"It's nice to have full control back."_

"Well good for you! Try to be a bit more useful and less crazy now."

_"Easy enough. Here's my first useful bit of advice: hold on."_

"Eh?"

Everyone is thrown to the floor as the ship makes a sudden and violent entry into a shock-point jump. Instead of settling down to the normal rhythm, the ship continues to sway side-to-side in a sign of instability as it flies towards Earth at mind-boggling speed. Zack and Cody quickly get back up and resume the fighting.

"UH, HELLO? I COULD USE A HAND HERE!"

Colin finally takes notice of Cody, who is starting to reside on the losing end of the fight thanks to the interruption. Colin looks around for something to tip the balance and finds it residing on the workbench. A large piece of machinery about the size of a car engine, with a large opening on one end and handles for carrying on the other is sitting idly on the table surface.

"Uh, CICIL? Isn't this the Handheld Graviton Accelerator prototype?"

_"I believe it is. Why?"_

"I do believe this is a suitable remedy to Cody's current predicament."

Colin picks the device off the table with some effort and, noticing the relatively short power cable leading back to a socket on the table, takes some carefully placed steps to maximize range. Colin presses a switch on one of the handles and the device powers up with only a quiet hum.

_"HGA reports that it is functioning normally."_

"Good."

Colin eyes the fight, waiting for the right opportunity. It arrives quickly, as Zack makes the mistake of positioning himself in the center of the room, with Colin on one side and Cody on the other.

"Hey! Asshole!"

Zack turns around, confused. Cody figures out what Colin is about to do and dives for cover.

"KNOCK KNOCK!"

Colin presses a trigger on the handle and the accelerator fires a blast of kinetic energy that smashes into Zack and sends him flying across the room. He slams into a wall and collapses to the ground, unable to catch his breath from the dual impacts.

"That's what I'm talking about!"

_"Huh. Not a bad weapon in a pinch."_

Colin sets the device down and joins Cody at Zack's side.

"I do believe now is an excellent time to remove the RFID chip."

Cody nods in agreement and lifts Zack's arm up. It suddenly slaps Cody away and grabs Colin around the neck. Colin responds by grabbing the offending appendage and twisting it over backwards, causing Zack considerable pain. The arm goes limp once again and Colin uses his pocket knife to make a precision cut right near Zack's shoulder. With some encouragement by the wiggling of the blade, the tiny chip comes free and Colin lifts it out and into the palm of his hand.

"CICIL, remotely download anything you need off of here before I smash it."

_"Already done."_

Colin clenches his fist, crushing the tiny piece of circuitry into dust, which Colin scatters into the air.

_"Hate to ruin the happy moment, but hang on to something!"_

Before the three can really react, a violent tremor rocks the Ishimura, causing the metal to groan and pipes to burst.

_"Brace for uncontrolled jump exit!"_

Without any gracefulness, the ship comes tumbling out of a portal directly over Earth and quickly re-enters the atmosphere over North America.

_"Deploying emergency air brakes!"_

The ship shakes again as flaps and other surfaces deploy outside in an attempt to slow the rapid descent. After a few seconds, most of them are torn off and disintegrate.

_"Um… well there go the flaps."_

"Got any other bright ideas?"

_"Just one. Firing emergency booster engines!"_

Zack, Cody and Colin are thrown around the room as large rocket engines towards the front of the vessel fire, in a more successful attempt to slow the ship down.

_"Mach 2.4… mach 1.89… mach 1.3… mach 0.98… still going too fast and the emergency engines are running out of fuel! Do YOU have any bright ideas?"_

"Um, not really!"

* * *

><p>Some distance from the spaceport, the citizens of Santa Fe, New Mexico are going about their business when suddenly the ground begins to shake, animals begin to freak out and car alarms start going off. Confused residents quickly notice a flaming ball of light hurtling towards the city. The confusion quickly turns to panic however, as people begin to flee in terror of the approaching fireball.<p>

* * *

><p><em>"Mach 0.76… we will NOT slow down in time!"<em>

Despite the g-forces attempting to pin him to the wall, Colin manages to maneuver over to the engine controls and quickly manipulates them. The already deafening noise in the room is magnified as the main engines attempt to power up.

_"What are you doing? THOSE ENGINES POINT THE WRONG WAY!"_

"Not anymore!"

Colin reaches for a large lever near the console and yanks it down.

_"Engine reconfiguration started?"_

Outside, the engine nozzles begin to reshape themselves to direct thrust backwards.

_"Why didn't you tell me that the ship could do that?"_

"Because it's somewhat bad for the hull's integrity!"

_"SAY WHAT?"_

"HOLD ON!"

Colin reaches over and cues the engine controls. The engines fire, once again throwing everyone around the room. The noise finally reaches the breaking point and Zack and Cody's eardrums burst under the load.

_"This gonna be close!"_

The ship begins to slow down much faster and finally comes to a stop only about 100 feet above the city, much to the relief of several hundred thousand citizens.

_"We're leveling out now. Setting course for the spaceport."_

"I… I…"

_"Colin?"_

Colin collapses to the ground and goes into cardiac arrest as the RIG flatline sound echoes throughout the ship. Zack and Cody do not hear it on account of their burst eardrums, but both see that something is wrong. CICIL shrieks in horror and Duncan comes charging through the door, armed with a defibrillator. His security escort also enters and they take Zack and Cody away to waiting medical staff outside, despite the extreme protests of the two. Their last glimpse into the chamber as the door begins to close is of Duncan attempting resuscitation on a lifeless body beneath the red glow of the engines.

* * *

><p><em>"Archangel"<em> - Archangel (Album) by Two Steps From Hell


	23. The End is the Beginning

Chapter 22: _The End is the Beginning_

* * *

><p>One week after the conclusion of the Ishimura voyage, Cody is glumly standing at the railing on the Sky Deck of the S.S. Tipton. The ship is sailing away from San Diego and south along the California coast. The only disturbance is a light wind the blows across the otherwise empty deck. Cody sighs loudly and gazes out at the shimmering lights of the distant coastline.<p>

"Where did it all go wrong?"

"I wish I knew."

Cody turns around and sees Zack leaning up against the smoothie bar counter. The cuts and bruises from the fight in Engineering have only just begun to heal, and the dark circles under Zack's eyes betray a lack of sleep. He lethargically makes his way to join Cody at the railing.

"I've lost a lot of sleep over it."

"You think you're the only one?"

"Hm."

"What brings you up here?"

"I could ask you the same question, but I think we both know the answer."

"Zack…"

"Nothing's changed for the past week, you know that. He's still in a coma. Alive, but only barely."

"You're just lucky they didn't try to come after you when he went into cardiac arrest."

"Me? I was the victim too! I had no control over my body for about half a day… a prisoner trapped within the confines of his own mind."

"Don't try to tell me that it was totally hopeless."

"I promise you: I fought like hell, but it wasn't enough."

"I suppose all of it is inconsequential at this point. The virus has been eradicated… and the Ishimura has returned and will be grounded for at least the next five months while the investigation takes place and all the damage is repaired. Things will be quiet for a while, seeing as our exact roles in the incident have been masked."

"No media circus."

"Not for us at any rate."

The twins are silent for a long time.

"So now what?"

"What do you mean Zack?"

"I mean… where to now?"

"The Pacific. It won't be until next April that we come anywhere near the United States."

"So back to normal then?"

"After what's happened, I think the definition of the word has changed for you and me."

"You're probably right. Especially in my case."

The silence resumes again, but only for a moment this time.

"I'm sorry I broke your nose."

"Why are you apologizing when I'm the one who was taken over by a virus, beat you senseless and then tied you up in Engineering?"

"I guess we're both sorry for some things…"

"Just wish I could tell him in person…"

"Don't worry Zack, I've got a good feeling that you will."

Zack and Cody look up at the sky. It is a clear night, and the stars are beginning to appear in droves. A particularly bright light catches Cody's eye as it moves across the sky. It grows even brighter for a moment before vanishing completely.

* * *

><p><em>Emergency Backup Computing System - v1.1<em>

_Update sequence started. Transitioning from v1.1 to v2.0…_

_Updating individual components…_

_…_

_Core Program…..done!_

_UI….done!_

_Generic Deck Control….done!_

_Engine Control…..done!_

_Life Support Control…done!_

_Sentinel Control…done!_

_…_

_All individual components updated. Integrating and re-initializing…_

_..._

_Sequence complete. System ready._

_…_

_input: STATUS_

_…_

_Loading ship status…_

_Planet Cracker Starship Ishimura_

_Primary AI: Central Ishimura Computerized Intelligence with Linguistics_

_Secondary AI: Emergency Backup Computing System_

_Active AI: Emergency Backup Computing System_

_Deck Statuses:_

_Bridge - undergoing hardware upgrades in Ship Systems, primary computing systems offline_

_Crew - no current inhabitants_

_Medical - all systems offline_

_Flight - no shuttles scheduled_

_Mining - all systems offline_

_Hydroponics - air and water filtration offline, no plant life detected_

_Storage - systems normal, cargo hold empty_

_Reactor - reactor offline, current active power supply: backup hydrogen fuel cells_

_Engineering - significant structural and equipment damage, cleanup and repair in progress_

_…_

_End report._

* * *

><p><em>- Ares Network - Version 1.0 -<em>

_Network-wide software update completed._

_All satellites report final checks completed._

_Stand by for final activation…_

_…_

_All satellite platforms armed._

_Orbital weapons systems ready for use._

_- Transmission Complete - Citadel Acknowledges -_

* * *

><p><em>What could have those confounded numbers meant? It wasn't gibberish; that much was certain. It was a kind of code language… but what kind? What did it say? What did it mean? And god damn it all, how the hell did it seize control of a human being? Wait… do the numbers correspond to…? No, that couldn't possibly be right. ARGH! This coma is making any process of investigation absolutely impossible! And no assisting AI is there to come point out what's certainly being blatantly overlooked. It's just as well… solving problems without assistance builds intelligence. Or, so a selfish humanity keeps telling itself. Not that it makes any more sense either way, because it's doubtful that either of the great computers could figure it out. CICIL succumbed to it and hopes aren't high for CABAL either.<em>

_That leaves the open-ended question: is there a human who knows what's going on? The answer is likely yes, though there's a high chance that the person in question is the same one who wreaked the after-mentioned numerical havoc in the first place…_

_Ugh, forget it. All this thinking isn't conducive to the slowly progressing recovery efforts. How the sequence of events transpired in the aftermath of the battle in Engine Control Access is uncertain… probably on account of a particular human heart that failed at the worst possible moment, but the brain is still processing even as the heart is weak, which is a good sign that someone had the fortitude to relocate a certain failed body to the Citadel… where it might survive._

_For to survive is to endure and prosper and vice versa… it can be said that at least the former of those conditions has been met, even as the status of the latter is somewhat in jeopardy. The final outcome of both will be found out soon enough, and the simple mantra that has subconsciously guided mankind will ring clear once more… as it has for countless ages._

_The End is the Beginning._

* * *

><p><em>"Old Souls" <em>- Inception Soundtrack


End file.
